Episode 1: Rupture (Rebels of the Mobian Restoration)
by ConstanceFinnigan
Summary: New Mobius is now Robotropolis, the first city in Doctor "Robotnik's" new world order. Old Mobia pays The Doctor tribute, but even then he still pulls the strings. He keeps a tight fist on all, but especially on the kid Ringweilder, a Mobian hedgehog gifted with Speed and grit. The kid who is doing all he can to tear down Robotropolis and the human who has enslaved his planet.
1. Rebels by Night

"Rupture"

REBELS of the MOBIAN RESTORATION

{A Retelling/Novelization based on the Sonic the Hedgehog canons}

A blue Mobian hedgehog faced the wasteland of Robotropolis, his green eyes bright against the darkness.

All that trash. Just dumped out. Just like the citizens of New Mobius, trapped in the factories inside that city. Used up and dumped out. Just like Robotnik was going to do to Mobia and him and the entire planet—

The hedgehog lifted his chin. He'd been given Speed for a reason. He couldn't let things happen.

 _Hang in there, Knux. We're coming._

"Sock it to me, Tails, we don't got all night," Sonic hissed. He smirked.

As if on cue, Tails' voice came in over the walkie talkie strapped to Sonic's chest. "You'll have seven seconds before the next surveillance bot, Sonic….wait for it…"

Sonic planted one foot behind him, grinding his red sneakers into the forest floor. Bunnie, sitting securely in Sonic's arms, tightened her grip around Sonic's neck and her robotic legs locked into place.

"Three…" Tails finished, "…Two…Now!"

 _Speed_.

It was like every muscle in the hedgehog's body pulled in on itself and held taut. The ground ripped out from beneath his feet, his sense of perception tripling its usual intake. He cut through the wall of air before him, leaving dust and dirt behind.

He wasn't going super fast, or anything. He had to be careful not to break the sound barrier and crack a sonic boom out in this dump. From the forest to Robotropolis, he had to cross two miles of open space in seven seconds, under the cover of night. The run would have been too easy if there hadn't been the mounds of old appliances, building remains, and factory machinery in his way. The wasteland was like a small city in itself.

The cyborg rabbit clinging to his neck let out an uncertain laugh and held on tighter as they bolted over an old table.

Sonic grit his teeth, mentally counted the seconds in his head. …Four…five…

He had to move it. He pushed on his Speed, and ripped into a clearing. The hedgehog leapt, rolling and curling up around Bunnie, sending his body shooting over the ground in a blue, spiked ball.

Six.

He uncurled, onto his feet and kept running. A red oven was close, half buried in the ground.

"Sonic, one's coming." Tails voice whispered over the walkie talkie.

Sonic skidded to a stop in front of the oven. He yanked up the top and dove inside, pulling it shut behind him with a bang.

Sonic hit the ground and froze, wincing against the noise. They were engulfed in darkness.

"Phew, nice one 'cept for the entrance…" Bunnie murmured. She clicked open the panel on her watch, letting the green glow from the clock face cast some light on the inside of the "oven."

Of course, the oven was just the prop on top of the ground. Underneath the oven lay a short tunnel to the sewage system. They had managed to dig it out one crazy night. At least there hadn't been surveillance bots circling around Robotropolis back then.

Sonic glanced down the tunnel, half-crouched. He scuttled further down, pricking his ears forward. "Looks clear."

"I'll take it from here, Sa'nic," Bunnie grinned, her raspy voice as congenial and reassuring as ever. She ran her hand through her honey-blonde shock of hair and over her droopy rabbit ears. "If anythin' messes with me, I'll just go robo on 'em."

Sonic smirked. He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes still bright. "You do that, Bunnie." He said it like an order. He held out his fist to her.

Bop, top, swack, side, clasp, down, thumbs-up.

Bunnie pulled her robotic arm out of the handshake, smiling. She let out a quick puff of air and pulled a gas mask from her backpack. "All righty, here I go."

Sonic saluted as he backed up, pushing against the oven door.

Bunnie's light faded as she turned and began to travel down the tunnel.

Sonic snatched at the walkie talkie strapped to his chest.

"Tails, give me another one," Sonic hissed.

A voice came in through the static. "Sure thing. Get ready."

Sonic's shoulders relaxed a little. There was still a part of Sonic that leaped inside when he heard Tails respond, still there, still safe.

He tapped his foot and crossed his arms, waiting.

"One just past…now!"

Sonic cannon-balled out through the oven door, kicked it shut, and charged back to base.

* * *

Sonic rolled to a halt at the edge of the forest, optimism blaring in his senses. He whipped out of the somersault with a double handspring-spin dash and landed with a thump on both feet.

Not far, at the edge of the forest sat an old bulldozer laying on its side, half covered in moss. A young Mobian fox with two tails crouched on the rim of a shattered. The minute Sonic shot into the clearing, his eyes lit up and he stood to his feet.

"Sonic!" The fox jumped, propelling his two tails behind him like the blades of a helicopter, the motion catching his fall. He hit the ground, sprinted to Sonic, jumped onto the hedgehog's back, and wrapped his arms, legs and tails around Sonic's waist.

"Woah, you ready, bro?" Sonic coughed, almost staggering off balance. Even if Tails was unusually small and light for his age, he was twelve now and still growing.

"Yeah," Tails said, his voice tight. He clutched the handheld radar system. His large blue eyes shone in the darkness as he watched the screen. "The pattern's been a little more random tonight—"

"—we gotta move, just tell me when we can go." Sonic tapped his foot, thirty-four taps in a second.

The fox held the radar system to his face. He raised his eyes to the wasteland beyond. "One's passing now," he whispered. "Ready…Go!"

* * *

Sonic rocketed for a second time over the wasteland. Tails still clung to his back, staring at the radar feed.

Everything was going great for two seconds. Then Tail's voice blared into Sonic's ear over the sound of the rushing air. "One's coming, we need cover _right now!_ "

A jolt of shock ran through Sonic and some of his head quills unsheathed. There was no way they could make it to the oven in time. He sighted a broken metal writing desk on the edge of his peripheral vision. Sonic thrust his legs out, half skidding, half spinning to a stop. He caught himself on all fours and scrambled beneath the desk.

"You're kidding?" Sonic hissed, scooting back as far as he could.

"Think they're onto us?" Tails tumbled off of Sonic's back, blinking in shock at the radar screen. He swiped his forelocks out of his blue eyes, starting to breathe heavier. "Think they found Bunnie-?"

"Shh!" Sonic snapped.

A spherical surveillance bot whipped overhead, its white beams flashing on and off over the trash beneath. Sonic shot his legs out from beneath him and he dropped onto his stomach. He clamped his hand over Tail's head and pulled him close, both of them flattening.

Sonic's ears cocked, his senses straining as far out as they could.

The bot had found them.

Something cracked from above them—a missile launch—

 _"Heat sensor alarm triggered. Organic lifeform present-"_

Sonic's mind whirred. He inwardly switched on his Speed, every muscle in his body contracting, and he shot out from beneath the desk. Sonic dashed up the tumbling wall of an ancient apartment, then launched himself outwards, straight towards the bot.

He had one agonizing second in midair, waiting for the impact. He turned in on himself, gathering his breath, making sure he hit shoes first.

Pain shot up Sonic's legs as he smashed into the bot, sending it spinning out of its course, reeling to the ground.

Second two.

Sonic hit the ground rolling. With his speed, Sonic saw that the heat missile had been launched at the desk—and Tails.

The hedgehog whipped two glowing golden rings free from the belts on his tunic. He thrust them out with both hands and rings rocketed from his grasp, humming and pulsing, growing in size.

The first ring crashed into the still-downed bot and encircled it like a lasso, holding it steady. The second ring arced alongside the heat-seeking missile, blinding and drawing it away from Tails.

Three.

Sonic grinned to himself as he pulled the second ring back around and let the missile follow the bait, away from Tails…and towards the captive bot.

Sonic made a flinging motion with his hand and the second ring smashed into the machine.

And of course, the missile followed.

Crack. A grin crossed the hedgehog's face as the bot exploded. He kept his speed on, letting his heightened senses fully experience the wave of heat and energy that hit him head on. The center of the explosion was too bright for him to look at, but he could watch the different rays shooting out from the center. The metal particles from the bot twisted, burning, breaking lose, shooting off in all directions. Nothing but shrapnel.

Shrapnel that would never shoot at him or Tails or anyone else again.

The light from the explosion died, leaving a cloud of metal scrap and dust rushing towards him.

Four seconds.

Sonic let his speed relax and the cloud appeared to come at him faster. He dropped to his knees and curled up. His spikes caught the shower of metal particles and dust.

Sonic let go of his speed completely, his wiry body relaxing. He uncurled, and spun around, green eyes wide.

"Tails?"

He leapt to his feet and sprinted over to an old metal trash can laying on its side.

Tails crouched inside, his eyes huge, ears cocked, both tails wound around himself.

"All clear, Tails, come on, we've gotta scram-!" Sonic snatched up the trash can.

"Thanks, Sonic," Tails popped his head out, his blue eyes wide. Shaken. "Let's get out of here," he said. He tumbled out of the trash can, almost sending it rolling on its side.

Sonic stopped it with his foot and snatched Tails, pulling him over his shoulder. The fox clambered onto Sonic's back once again as Sonic shot several glances across the horizon.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught some wording on the side of the can. _New Mobius Smelting Agency. Warning: Heat Resistant Bin. Though outside of bin will appear cold, contents may burn. Empty with caution._

Sonic smirked back at the fox leaning over his shoulder. "Hiding from a heat-seeking missile in a thermos, huh?" Sonic snapped out, his eyes sharp.

"I saw it from under the desk-it probably wouldn't have worked," Tails said.

"Not bad in theory, but we ain't sticking around to test it."

Sonic crouched down to spring, then bolted across the junkyard.

* * *

FINAL UPDATE, 10/27/2018

This is the final update, guys. This chapter is done. I do not plan to work on it ever again in my entire life. XD This is such a happy weird feeling. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy! If you're new to the story, read below for more info. ;-)

UPDATED, 10/10/17.

ORIGINAL (with edits):

Thanks for stopping by and reading! Some of you may have already read "Remember," in which case you already know how this works. But for those who don't-this story doesn't exist within one of the Sonic canons. ;-) This series is a Novelization/Retelling based off of Sonic's concept. There are references to some of the canons that have inspired this story (Satam, AdventuresoStH, Sonic Boom, Archie comics) hidden throughout the story, but the story world and most of the character backstories are original. Some characters are original too, and the canon characters' personalities have been worked with a lot _,_ so they may feel very different from the canon characters. If retellings suite your taste, I hope you enjoy!

This episode is part of the "Rebels of the Mobian Restoration" saga (more info on my page!). There is also a book before this called "Remember," and it is a collection of stories of Sonic as a seven year old, before things went crazy. It's not essential to _Rupture_ , but it might give the reader a better understanding of what's going on and give some hints as to some of the future conflicts to come.

You can also find the final drafts of these stories with art on Wattpad! See my page for the link.

Thank you again for reading! :-D

His grace is sufficient for me, His power is perfected in my weakness,

Constance/Connie

P.S. One word of warning to all the passionate shippers out there! This story has a Sonally theme, but I haven't totally slammed or ditched Amy Rose either… ;-D


	2. Robotnik and the People's Council

In three seconds they were at the red oven.

They leapt inside and Sonic shut the door behind them. Tails clambered off of Sonic's back, they slid to the ground, and the two of them crouched on the floor of the tunnel.

Surveillance bots began to whizz through the air above ground. Below, the two Mobians huddled in silence, listening, their large ears cocked.

The sounds began to die down and Sonic unclicked the walkie talkie from his vest-tunic's strap. "Checking on Bunnie," he whispered.

Tails watched Sonic, blue eyes wide, biting his lower lip.

Sonic punched in Bunnie's channel. "Hey, Bunnie?" he hissed.

 _Static._

Sonic grit his teeth and glared to the side.

They used the highest frequencies they could underground—enhanced by Mobium ring connectors-but it was still hard to pick up each other's signals in the sewers.

"That you, Sa'nic?" Bunnie's voice came in, muffled by her gas mask.

Both Sonic and Tails sagged in relief.

"You okay?" Sonic asked.

"Well, it's never been exactly clean down here," Bunnie sniffed.

Sonic shot Tails a thumbs up and winked. The fox's ears pricked up.

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Keep your wits up, Bunnie, the bots are upping their game today—"

"Sa'nic, did somethin' happ-"

"We're fine, Bunnie. Gotta run. Over n' out." He signed off.

The hedgehog spun to Tails, grinning hard. The fox met Sonic's gaze, and his eyes brightened a little.

Sonic kicked towards the oven door above them. His tone took back on its characteristic panache. "Not fast enough today, buzzbots." He snatched Tails by the shoulder and ruffled the fox's forelocks, "And not bad back there with the thermos can, kiddo."

Tails ducked his head, hiding a small smile.

"We're almost getting too good at this." Sonic's green eyes flashed. "We're gonna get out just fine too—with Knux."

He sounded as sure as ever, he made sure of that.

But Tails noticed the way Sonic's eyes burned and how he fisted his hands.

"I—I know." Tails forced a grin, but his eyes said more than his words could. He wrapped his arms and tails around himself.

Sonic pushed his legs out in front of him and scooted closer to Tails. "Hey don't you worry, bro." He knocked the fox against his side and gave him a punch in the chest. "It's gonna be okay, see. We're gonna _make_ it okay. If we don't find Knuckles tonight, we'll just keep coming back until we do, got it? We're not gonna stop until we find out what happened to him."

Tails looked up at him. He had that determined hope in his eyes. The hope Sonic had taught him to have down through all the years, all the things they had survived this far… "Got it, Sonic."

Sonic glanced down at the darkness of the tunnel and frowned.

Of course, Robotnik could have roboticized Knuckles.

Sonic glared and let out a sharp breath.

He turned back to Tails. "You be careful in there."

Tails nodded and began to get up. Normally he and Sonic stuck together, but they were low on people tonight and they had a lot of ground to cover.

"Wait." Sonic whipped another coin-sized ring free from his third tunic belt. The ring pulsed, warm and glowing in Sonic's hand, a continuous twist of fluorescing Mobium energy. He stretched out his palm, letting the ring expand to the size of a plum. "Take this."

The gold of the ring reflected in the fox's eyes like fire. Tails gaze hardened. "That's your only shield ring."

Sonic smirked. " _So?_ "

Tails stared at him dead on. "I can do this." Even though his voice shook a little. "Besides, the rings are only an emergency…you are better at using rings than I am, and if anyone catches footage of someone using rings, they'll know it's you behind this-"

"Aw, let the Doctor know it's me," Sonic snapped. He glanced away, his spikes unsheathing. "At least then we'd have a good reason to cut loose. I'd rather be on the run then _licking_ his _boots_ any day. Sometimes I just wanna bring a whole bucketload of rings and fire them at this city 'til it melts down to a pul-" Sonic stopped, closing his eyes. He scowled hard and snapped his fingers. "What'm I saying…Thanks to that fake truce with Robotnik, I guess right the planet kind of depends on me sticking around to lick his boots."

Tail's eyes sparked, his jaw set. "We'll be free again someday, Sonic."

Sonic glanced back up at Tails. A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"And I'll help carry all the rings you need to destroy this place if I have to," Tails finished. His hands were fisted tight.

"Sure you will, Tails," Sonic said. He said it like he meant it.

The hedgehog tossed the ring in the air and caught it backhanded. "Okay, enough gabbin'. This one's still yours."

"Sonic, I-" Tails started.

Something in Sonic's green eyes sharpened. He glared. "We don't have time for this, I'm the Ringweilder, I know who the rings are supposed to go to, 'kay? This one's screaming your name."

Tails glared back. "….All right. I'll only use it if I have to." Stubbornness tinged his tone, but Sonic knew he was relieved too.

Sonic closed his eyes, the heat from the ring burning in his hand. The truth was, the ring _was_ for Tails. He'd felt it in his gut when he had chosen it before they left. Exactly _when_ he was supposed to give it to Tails, the ring wasn't saying. So it was up to him.

He mentally bequeathed the ring, granting the fox the right to manipulate it into a force shield. Then he opened his eyes and tossed the ring to Tails. The fox put it into the pocket of his cargo pants.

"It'll only work as a shield though. No funny tricks," Sonic warned. "Now you better get out of here. Let me know if you find anything, got it?" He wrapped an arm around Tails ribs and squeezed tight.

"Got it." Tails squeezed back, fisting his hands against Sonic's back spikes. They both let go, their gazes meeting, fear and resolve mirrored in their eyes.

Then Tails jumped to his feet. He took off and ran down the tunnel, propelling his tails to help him keep his balance.

Sonic paused, taking a second to watch his brother disappear.

He'd be okay.

Sonic took his gas mask from his side pack and picked the walkie talkie back up. He switched the screen to distance message and dialed the channel that connected him with Sally.

"Hey, Sal," he whispered into the recorder. "Save some food from the party for us three, okay?" He smirked, his eyes bright. "I'll touch back with you in a bit. We may be able to scrounge up something here instead. See ya."

* * *

Miles from Robotropolis, the palace of Capitol Aero stood at the peak of a great cliff face. Inside the palace, in a great dining hall, the ruling bodies of the planet had assembled—the People's Council, the royal family, and one human. Or, at least, he had once been a human.

Doctor Nikolos—known as "Robotnik" by all who hated him-sat at the head of the assembly table, an egg-shaped bulk towering two feet above the Mobian members. Bronze, claw-like hands clutched the arms of his wood chair. The hinged extremities attached to a bronze forearm. The metal continued. Up his shoulder. To his robotic neck. His jaw, his nose, his cheek bones. His eyes were black lenses encased in vinyl orbs, each orb filled with a red laser substance that resembled a pupil. He wore a bronze skull cap screwed to his scalp to protect his brain, one of the few parts of his body that he had not yet roboticized. The only other parts of him that were still flesh were his red mustache, his lips and his teeth.

Faint harp music echoed through the assembly dining hall.

"You know, I really appreciate how you creatures set out food for me even though I cannot actually eat anymore—don't have to. Not having to worry about food has been very convenient. All the citizens of Robotropolis agree," The Doctor said.

The ruling Queen Alicia, sitting closest him, sat straight and stiff, her head bowed. She was a beautiful Mobian, a chipmunk, with dark facial lines accenting her delicate features. Her soft chestnut brown hair had been piled on top of her head and draped with a gold head piece that trailed down in front of her ears and brushed the nape of her neck. Gold make up studded her weary brown eyes.

"Doctor," she said. "Would you then prefer we forgo offering you food in the future when you reside as guest here?"

"Hmm…" Robotnik said, tapping his metal fingers. "Well…yes. That would simplify things for all you little animals, wouldn't it, dear?"

Queen Alicia did not respond to his disrespect. No one corrected him anymore.

Heavy silence filled the hall.

The queen took a deep breath, then tried to speak again. She stood up. "Doctor Nikolos, I thank you for encouraging us to band together during this difficult time in our planet's history. I am sure I speak for us all when I say Mobia thanks you heartily for your assistance. Angel Island has always been a reminder to us of our planet and universe's eventual cleansing, when darkness will be consumed from all hearts and lands once and forever. It is tragic indeed that the island finally fell."

Lord Further, A Mobian warthog with thick black hair pulled back from his face applauded. "Well said, our Lady. Why," he forced a chuckle, "I remember, when I was a child, seeing the island float over my little village and everyone came out to stare, and for weeks no one talked about anything else except the island relic." He cleared his throat, "Well, you can imagine just how devastated we were when we found it had crashed on the M'Leah mountain range—no Guardian, no relic, the holding room cracked open." His bright eyes darkened and he averted his gaze.

The Queen smiled. She turned to the mecha-human. "While we are here, do you have any further news? Have your spy ships uncovered anything more?"

Robotnik toyed with the end of his mustache. "Not much more…only it still looks like the work of Deks."

On Robotnik's right, a young Mobian chipmunk sat in silence, her head erect. She had kept from speaking all evening, her face nonchalant, but at this comment she arched her eyebrows quickly.

They all knew it was not Deks. He had taken down Angel Island himself. No one knew why, and no one was going to say or do anything about it.

A stray tendril of her thick auburn hair fell forward from where she had swept her hair back from her brow. She tucked it back behind her ear, glancing down.

"Thank goodness, my region hasn't seen any Deks yet," Lord Further said, gaze still averted. "We all too remember the great wars we fought with them in our youth—back before you came and saved us, Dr. Nikolos."

The girl pinched her lips together.

Before the human had cracked a hole in the dimensional divide. Before he had brought the tech, and electricity, and radio waves from earth, and robots and machine guns.

He was going to kill them all one day.

"Speaking of which." Dr. Nikolos said. "I have some matters to discuss with all of you. I did suggest we gather for a reason…since Deks are coming back, I have been attending to preparations for the planet's protection. I've been studying the design of my airborne destroyers. I'm sure you all have seen some of them—big hulking things. Could definitely level a medium sized city with a few well aimed shots. But they are slow, so I've been making many millions of smaller ones. They'll move faster. Millions, I tell you all. You should come down to Robotropolis and see them sometime."

"We would like that very much." Queen Alicia said.

"Millions," The Doctor went on, ignoring the queen. "I just love this little deal I have going with you all. I never could have built all this if you hadn't let me advertise under our truce. You all were right—letting your people decide to join instead of me just _taking_ them does work better in the long run—"

The girl almost rolled her eyes. Like he still didn't take their people. He'd just forced the Council to make it legal.

He went on. "—So many of your people have decided to live in Robotropolis thanks to you, building millions and millions of destroyer ships… factories… Before you know it, there will be thousands of more cities like Robotropolis. This whole planet, a utopia-"

Next to Robotnik, the girl raised her head, her large, almond-shaped blue eyes burning. "Doctor," her voice was clipped. "I am sure you will need those destroyers frequently in a utopia."

The Doctor fixed his red laser pupils on her.

She would have shrunk from his hideous face, but not now. She hated him too much. Instead she pasted on her trained smile.

"Many people might try to sabotage a mission as crucial as mine," The Doctor said, his voice lowering. "Many people might not understand, princess…"

"I see," the princess said. She took a quick breath, then finally dropped her gaze. She took a sip of sparkling pear juice, ducking her head.

"You are right, Doctor," Sir Torrence, an elegant Mobian eagle, affirmed. "You are wise, as always."

A murmur of agreement circled around the room from the Mobians.

The sound rang in the princess' ears. She stared at the carved wooden walls beyond the table, gripping the seat of her chair with locked knuckles. She took a deep breath as tears pricked her vision.

Sonic. Sonic, at least, was still fighting.

* * *

FINAL UPDATE 10/27/2018

UPDATED 4/16/17 **.** I changed the introduction to Sally a lot in this chapter. Hope it's more fun to read and easier to understand. :-)

... I had so much fun writing this chapter. Hope everything made sense! If anyone's confused on anything, feel free to ask questions to clarify! ;-)

If you liked this story and you'd like to see more, please leave a quick review and let me know! I have way too much fun with this story and each character in here has some inner back plot or side story I could really delve into more if I had the time-trouble is, I don't have the time. XD So, if you like a specific character, please tell me who, and maybe I'll write more about them someday. ;-)

God bless you all and Happy Resurrection Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!

Keep fighting,

~Connie


	3. In the Robotropolis Sewers

"Where are you hiding out, Knuckles…?"

Sonic crouched on a ledge over the sewers, breathing through his gas mask. He scanned the sewage, green eyes narrowed, looking for anything that might lead him to Knuckles.

The sewers of Robotropolis were no picnic. Toxic chemicals ran in trickles through the cement tunnels so that they would trail out into the forest, maybe even hit a couple of Mobia's water lines. Besides the chemicals, there was garbage from the pre-robot days, sometimes dung if they were close to a factory run by live Mobians, and sometimes—

Sonic pushed forward on the balls of his red sneakers. A gray-white lump lay half buried in the waste.

And every now and then, there was a body.

He whipped out his protective shoe-and-leg covers. He couldn't run as fast in them, but he had to have them if he was going to wade through that poison. He slid down the side of the wall, landing feet first in a pool of some blue, oily substance that steamed and boiled. He scrambled across the sewage towards the gray lump.

"Psst!" he hissed, gritting his teeth.

Who was he kidding, nine out of ten times they were already dead.

Sonic leaned over the lump, snatched it with his gloves and turned it over.

It had once been a Mobian walrus. He could tell that easily enough by the strong tusks on either side of his mouth and its big bones. Its fur was stained thick blue and black from the chemicals, its face almost entirely eaten away. His ribs showed through his fur, starved. From the size, at least a young adult, maybe even around his age…

The hedgehog waited for a second, his gaze darting over the unstained white-gray fur. Its Mobium energy had been extracted from him. Probably just earlier that day.

Sonic scowled hard, his green eyes burning. He eased the body back down and stood up, fists clenched.

He stood in the darkness of the sewers, listening to the trickle of the chemicals and watching a thin beam of light play over the water. Shadows darkened his green eyes, masking the anger coursing through them.

If Robotnik was going to kill people, couldn't he at least bury the bodies instead of dumping them in a place like this?

Sonic bent his head and marched forward a couple paces.

But then the body wheezed.

Sonic whipped around and dove to his knees. He scooped the walrus back up and charged up the side of the wall to the safety of the ledge. He set down the walrus and stared harder at the body, looking for any signs of life he could have missed. The walrus's rib cage seemed to shudder, and then came the wheeze.

Sonic smiled.

He snapped his fingers, scooting closer to the walrus. "Well, didn't you pick the right day to die? Good for you, kiddo, I just happen to have one of these left-" Sonic tugged out his last ring from his tunic pocket, barely the size of a radish, and glared at it.

Last one.

Sonic closed his head, bequeathed the ring to heal, then wrapped the walrus's raw hand around it. The ring hummed, glowing between the walrus's fingers. A few hairs on his fingers began to grow back, but the color was still white-gray.

Sonic waited, drumming his hand on the floor from his crouched position. "C'mon…"

This was a big job. The ring was working, but it'd need time, and lots of it.

Sonic tapped his foot against the floor in thought, twenty taps in a second.

This was great. He couldn't leave a living Mobian down here. But he couldn't just quit on Knuckles either.

To his surprise, the walrus's swollen eyelids cracked open a slit, revealing grey-green, filmy eyes.

Sonic leaned over him. The ring must be working faster than he thought. The next wheeze came out as a word. "Who—wh-?"

"Woah, don't try to say anything," Sonic warned, hands outstretched. "You're gonna kill yourself-"

"Who are you?" the walrus wheezed.

"Name's Sonic, now shut it already," Sonic hissed, twisting the corner of his mouth into a grimace. "We're gonna try fixing you up, but I've gotta warn you, it doesn't look good." Sonic began taking off his leg and shoe covers.

"S-Sonic…" the walrus' eyes went blank for a moment. Then they snapped back into focus. "I…know…remember…he said you…thought—you…you were…," he choked. "Slave."

Sonic jolted upright and he turned his head to face the walrus, glaring hard. His eyes sparked with mock inquiry, "Huh, did you? Well, I wonder who spread around that little juicy piece of _rot_ ," his voice turned hard. "I'm not."

He didn't care what he was. Let Robotnik snatch at him and own as much of his life as the truce allowed him to, but he would never be a real slave again. He would never stop fighting.

"Good." The walrus closed his eyes again. "The Echidna…he knew you…"

Sonic's ears perked up and froze.

"Red…echidna…v-very-strong…?" the walrus coughed and his body shuddered.

Knuckles.

Sonic snatched the walrus's raw shoulders, steading him. "Say what?"

The walrus wheezed, regaining his breath. He was trying hard to keep talking. "The Doctor has… taken… the relic… the echidna…" he cut off.

"I am going to find him and I will get him out," Sonic said, his voice firm. "Where is the echidna?"

The walrus opened his eyes again, wider, as if in shock. "Wha—where…you will get him? Yes—get—him out of the lab—get him…out of the…the lab…" He stopped, wheezing harder again, his eyes rolling in their sockets.

Sonic whipped out his walkie talkie from his tunic belt, his bright eyes fixed on the sewer drains above. "Bunnie. Tails."

Static, then Bunnie came in. "Sa'nic?"

"You okay, Sonic?" Tails burst out over the walkie talkie.

Sonic let himself ease back against the cement wall. He crossed his ankles. "I have a lead on Knuckles. I've got a live one here, and he said something about Knuckles and a lab and Robotnik having big plans and stuff."

"Well, that's providence for ya," Bunnie said. "Of all things-"

Sonic gripped the back of his neck. "Bad news is the source of the news is mostly dead. Before I found him, he wasn't going to stick around much longer. Half his face is gone, probably some internal mess, and then who know how long he's been drinking sewer poison. I've got a ring on him, but I can't just leave him here."

"I'll stay with him, suga', sounds like I'm in the wrong tunnels anyway," Bunnie said. "You take him back to the red oven tunnel, an' I'll see what I can do for the fella'. I brought ma first aid kit."

"Ah…" Sonic glanced down at the gerbil. "You're gonna need a first aid _trunk_."

"Sonic, where are you?" Tails hissed.

"I'd say a couple miles in," Sonic smirked. "I can easily change that though. Tails and I will keep looking for Knuckles. Over n' out," Sonic clicked off the walkie talkie and crouched back over the body. "Hang in there, man, you've got back-up now."

Sonic's scooped up the walrus, keeping a grasp on the ring, and stood up. He huffed with exertion, adjusting his hold and paused on the edge of the ledge.

Then he let himself fall over the side, blasting into a run. The momentum of his speed carried him across the sewer walls. He speed up as he ran across the ceiling, upside down, a blue blur streaking through the darkness.

"You know-" Robotnik said. "With all these new developments, I'm really growing short on Mobium energy."

The blood of every Mobian in the assembly ran cold.

Robotnik shook his head to himself, the metal hinges in his neck clicking softly. "The rings the hedgehog brings me every month as your people's tribute-well, they cover the energy requirements for my Roboticizer, but as for the rest of the city…I've had to go to other means to collect energy lately."

The princess bent her head, staring at her salad plate, several locks of her auburn hair falling into her face. She closed her eyes and a shiver ran through her. She clutched the edge of her seat to steady herself.

He'd been going to other means for a long time. Robotnik needed the highest energy source he could find to fuel his city…and his roboticizer. That energy source happened to be Mobium, and Mobium was found in two places—in their legendary Mobium rings, and in their own bodies. Mobium was their lifeblood.

Who knew just how many of her people Robotnik had threatened and cheated and captured into his factories. How many of them had died on the Mobium extractor, their Mobium energy sucked from their bodies to run his city?

"Are you saying…the Ignitium spring beneath Robotropolis, has dried up?" the Queen ventured to ask.

"Yes, long ago, dearie. I was thinking…" Robotnik sighed. "I value efficiency, and having the Ringweilder go out every month and find the rings over and over again, just to bring them to me—it's an awful waste of energy and time. But I'm a scientist, and I've often thought…if I could just have a little time with your Ringweilder. Run a few tests, you understand…I'm sure I could discover how the rings work, how to activate them, and use them myself. Then I could find the rings myself and take what I needed…"

The princess's head shot up, her blue eyes wide.

 _He would kill him._

She spun to face the Queen, trying to meet her mother's gaze. The queen frowned, the lines in her forehead creased in thought.

She looked to the council, studying their blank, downturned faces. Her breathing accelerated.

"Of course, as the People's Council, you would have to give your approval…" Robotnik said. He circled the point of his metal finger over the rim of his glass cup, chipping it.

A murmur ran through the assembly and the princess stared at him in horror.

"That…would be a diversion from our current truce terms," Lady Melwain, a Mobian cheetah with dark eye-liner said.

"Yes…" the Queen lifted her head, her voice soft.

The princess gripped the edge of the table, watching her mother.

The queen continued. "When we made our truce with you, you agreed to pardon the Ringweilder of all the previous crimes he had committed against you and Robotropolis. You could not remove him from Capitol Aero by force, and you could not harm him. In return, we ordered him to obey you in the matter of the rings and put him under your control."

Robotnik waited, clenching his hinged fist.

"Since that time," the Queen said, "we have had three years to expand that negotiation and this would be the farthest expansion yet. The Ringweilder is a valuable asset, not only to the royal family, but also to the planet. His talents are unique only to him and will be until his death."

Robotnik _hmm-ed_ under his breath. "One never knows how far one must go in the name of science…especially for a cause like mine—the improvement of all world orders. The nature of the rings and their energy is a key in my quest…I do not know just how far I would have to _dig_ if I undertook such an experiment. So. Say…perhaps he dies. A new Ringweilder would arise at once in his place. For your people. I hear that's how it usually works."

No one said a word.

"Everyone is pleased." Robotnik finished. "And I won't have to resort to _other measures_ to remedy my energy crisis."

Lady Melwain spoke again. "It would be a shame for any so young… but, honestly, if he is half a Ringweilder, he would gladly serve our people in any way he could."

Even in death.

The princess sat, her eyes blank with shock and her jaw clenched.

She had never believe it would come to this. Never.

She did not care just how much Sonic drove her _nuts_. She downright hated him sometimes. But still—they were friends—and he was brave, and _stupid_.

And she-

He was her subject.

She was his princess.

And she needed his gifts. They all did. Everything they had worked for would collapse otherwise. For the sake of the entire planet, he could not die.

But even disregarding practicality! Did her council have any heart left at all? It was bad enough Robotnik controlled Sonic's life. That he should be further sacrificed on the platter of peace—a false peace—it was shameful.

After all, no one could just "figure out" the rings and every Mobian knew that. The same Person that had created the Mobian race had created the rings and their power, and that same Person still worked through them. Even Sonic could only use the rings as long as he'd been given the gift, and he could only use the rings in certain ways. Had this human _monster_ honestly threatened the members of the council enough that they would "pretend" he could somehow accomplish this thing?

Again angry tears threatened to blur her vision and the princess glared at the table, blinking hard.

"You know, the People's Council is all here, come to think of it," Robotnik finally said. "Why not save the time for the meeting tomorrow to discuss more pressing issues—take a simple vote tonight. I can pick up the hedgehog tomorrow when he brings me his rings." Robotnik's red laser pupils seemed to brighten. "After all, I seem to sense a general consensus…"

The assembly remained silent.

"Yes, well..." Lord Further said, hesitating.

The princess's eyes went round with rage.

Her father never would have watched this. And she was his daughter, so neither should she.

She jerked up straight in her seat and began to open her mouth.

The Queen's gaze met hers. She shook her head.

The princess stared at her mother, choking. She pinched her mouth shut, twisting it into a scowl.

"-Someone else would be a better Ringweilder anyway," muttered Lady Melwain. "One who was older, and _not_ a New Mobian." She caught herself, then glanced at Robotnik. "No offense, Doctor, of course. I understand that New Mobius is now Robotropolis…a New Mobian and a Robian are different classes entirely…" she cleared her throat. "I would not object to calling a vote now."

The princess raised her eyebrows.

It did not matter.

She did not mean to stand up. One second she was seated, stiff as a rail, the next her hands were braced against the edge of the table as she rose to her feet.

 **Author's Notes, 4/16/17**

Hello, Fanfiction readers! Well, it took me forever, but I've actually finished this whole first episode and I'm just in the editing and uploading process right now. Stay tuned for updates!

As for this chapter... Kudos to the first person who can guess who the walrus is! ;-D Lady Melwain and Lord Further are original characters-I just didn't have enough canon characters to fill in the whole People's Council...besides I needed people I could easily...well...*coughcough* You'll see.

So, we're getting more into the backstory here and there's ALOT of it. So, again, if you have any questions you need to ask, feel free to ask! I don't want anyone to get confused. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Keep fighting,

~Connie


	4. In Defense of Sonic

Princess Sally Alicia, fifteen-years old and heir to the throne, faced her People's Council, her head held high and eyes burning. She glittered in the hallway light. Draped in a copper-gold chain bodice and headdress. Wrapped in an iridescent teal gown that split and flared at her knees. Tendrils of her thick auburn hair spilled down her bare shoulders and back, held back from her brow by a thick circlet of sapphires and gold.

"People's Council of Mobia," she said. Authority resounded in her tone.

"As your princess," she said. "I understand that I do not have the jurisdiction to force the people's will, but I will take advantage of my privilege to advise. The people of Mobia entered into this contract because we were afraid, and we longed for peace. Three years later, we are still afraid, and I think all of you know we are not at peace."

"What are you accusing me of, Princess? I haven't heard any complaints?" Robotnik asked, his automated voice breathy and low.

Sally turned to face him and she stared into the laser beams in his eyes.

He could blast through her skull in a matter of seconds. He could kill them all right here.

"I am sorry, Doctor," Sally said with a short nod, glancing away. She took a soft breath, shivers running up and down her spine. She fisted her fingers.

"But a matter such as the one you have proposed," she continued, "requires more consideration. It would be unwise to vote now. People's Council, please allow me to express a few of my observations so that you can make a more-informed decision."

Her people's council watched her, frozen.

"I would like to present several points in defense of our Ringweilder, but first, we must understand the nature of a decision like this. The rings have been under the power of the Mobian race for as long as we have existed. Many of you can remember the wars with the Deks before my time, the very war that the Doctor helped stop."

She didn't go on to say how the Doctor had used this intervention to steal the loyalty of the young Mobians of that generation. Or how those same Mobians had pledged their lives to him and his vision for New Mobius, a tech-utopia. Or how after seven years of ruling his tech-city he revealed his true intentions for the planet of Marto and the Mobian race-as test subjects for an efficient, immortal, utopian empire consisting entirely of robots.

Yes. They all remembered that.

Sally continued, narrowing her eyes, "Why did the Deks target our planet and people for centuries before the Doctor came? Because we guard the rings. We are glad to give the rings to others, but that is our choice to make. If a being other than the Mobian Ringweilder could find and activate them, our greatest charge would be placed in the hands of another. This is a weighty decision, one that cannot be determined by an informal vote. In fact, I would go as far to say that a proposition of this nature would require educating the public and collecting a planet-wide consensus."

The People's Council held their silence, most likely reflecting on how difficult and inconvenient it would be to hold a planet-wide consensus, and how Robotnik would probably find some way to secretly make their lives miserable if they tried.

"Furthermore, even if we did decide to give Sonic to the Doctor, we need to realize there is very little likelihood that the Doctor would somehow be able to activate rings for himself by… _disassembling_ a Ringwielder. We all know that the gift follows a rough family tree, but there genetics stop. There is only one Ringwielder at a time. Once the gift passes on to a new Ringweilder, the former Ringweilder loses his abilities as if he had never had it. Why? Because the Ringwielders are hand-picked. The gift cannot be dissected and analyzed—it is bestowed on a specific person for a specific time." Sally faced the Doctor directly. "The only way, Doctor, that you could ever find and activate the Mobium rings is if you were hand-picked by the same Person who creates the rings to become the next Ringweilder. And as a human, that is highly unlikely."

Robotnik did not look happy. He hadn't killed her yet though, so she continued.

"Now…in defense of our current Ringweilder. He is young. I understand that. He is a New Mobian, and as a consequence is not as well accustomed to the ways of Old Mobia. I acknowledge these points.

"However, he has experience wielding the rings. He came to Old Mobia at age eight, knowing nothing about the rings except that he could activate them. He is now fifteen. Again, that is young. But it is said that his mother, Lady Aleena, was fifteen when she first received the gift, and she guarded our planet well during the war with the Deks. But Sonic has had seven years of experience and he is just now fifteen.

"If he dies, the gift will pass on to a new Ringwielder—we have no idea who—and whoever it is will have to take the time to learn how to wield the gift.

"In addition to this, I say that Sonic himself is well-suited to his role. We all know how he is gifted with Speed. Why such power was bestowed on him, in addition to Ringwielding, I cannot say, but if he lives, I can foresee him growing into one of the most powerful guardians our planet has known." She stopped, and passion coursed through her eyes. She gritted out the words, "And we need guardians, Mobia."

The People's council were listening.

Of course, they knew all this. She just had to let them know that _she knew_ they knew. Robotnik was bribing them and breathing down their necks day in and day out. But that was to be expected when one ruled a nation. They'd all been called to die, not to hide.

She breathed out, forcing herself to continue. "Sonic _is_ committed to Mobia. I am sure you all can remember that first year when he sat on your council and a fanatic shooter burst in. None of you would be standing here today if he had not brought down the shooter using his speed."

Lady Melwain, representative of the Aero region, raised a finger.

Sally assented with a nod.

"With great respect, Princess Sally," she said. "We thank you for your observations and recommendations. I would like to say, however, that though the young Ringweilder has reflexes and nerve, I well remember his insolence. I have often seen him speak boldly and disrespectfully, not only to the Mobian Peoples Council, but also to the royal family. You mention his power. Do we truly want an unpredictable Ringweilder with such power? He does not know his place as a minor, as a Guardian, as your servant, as a hedgehog." She wrinkled her nose, her golden eyes slitting. "In the days of the caste system, a hedgehog could never get away with his flagrance. Hedgehogs are of the Guardian caste, and back then Guardians did as they were told and did not ask questions."

"Yes, he is…" Sally paused. "… _very open_ ," Dry disapproval rang in her tone and a light sparked in her eyes. "But age can cure that. His record for helping the common people of Old Mobia in their…personal struggles is remarkable. That is something that we in government cannot seem to do, but he can."

She took a deep breath and nodded, signifying that she had finished the meat of her speech. "People's Council, I ask that you take the time to consider the options and make an official decision on what needs to be done tomorrow, at the scheduled time. As for me, I strongly recommend that we allow Sonic to live under Mobia's authority and wield his gift as Ringweilder as long has it has been given to him. Doctor," she turned to face Robotnik's blank stare. "I ask that you wait accordingly for our decision."

And she sat down.

 **Author's Note, 4/24/2017**

Thanks for dropping in! ALOT of backstory hints in this chapter, so if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask!

I have so, so much fun writing Sally's retelling character. She's a mess. XD

Are there any canon Sally fans out there? What's your favorite (or LEAST favorite) thing about canon Sally? If it fits, I might be able to incorporate (or try NOT to incorporate) those aspects. XD No hate though please-I understand she's not everyone's favorite character. The first time I saw her, I didn't like her either, actually, but then as I learned more about her backstory and some of the things that happened to her in the comics...she started to grow on me. XD

Thanks for reading!

Keep Fighting,

Connie


	5. The Lab at Spectank

Tails crawled inside an air duct of the Extended Research Lab Spectank, using his twin tails to help push him along, his blue eyes bright against the darkness. He grit his teeth, swiping his forelocks out of his eyes, and kept following the smell.

Tails thought if the person Sonic had found had seen Knuckles, then he should look for a lab close to the sewers Sonic had found the Mobian in. Of course, it would have helped if Sonic had actually stayed on the channel long enough to tell Tails where he was—but Sonic had to go when Sonic had to go. It happened a lot. Early on, Tails had figured out several ways to keep track of Sonic—including how to track a walkie talkie based on the wavelength of its incoming sound waves.

Sonic had been somewhere underneath Street C-5 and sure enough, the closest lab connecting to that sewer was Spectank.

When Tails had first entered, he'd noticed two things. The first was the silence. The lab must have been empty. The second was the smell. When he'd finally dared to take his gas mask off, he'd picked it up. Sweet, metallic, acrid.

Maybe he couldn't remember every detail of his life before Robotnik took over, but he could still recognize the smells of just about any chemical on Marto. He'd smelled most of them at one time or another back in his father's tech lab. He couldn't place this one though.

He kept climbing, biting his lip, and trying not to think about what would happen if he messed up—or what Knuckles might look like after this—or it they were too late altogether. But he couldn't help it.

Knuckles. Tails had always felt like a bug next to him. He'd never forget the time on Angel Island when Sonic had joked about opening the door to the relic's chamber and taking a peek inside. In an instant, Knuckles had snatched Sonic with both fists, and flung him over the side of the island with a roar. Tails, like an idiot, had yelped in shock and stood dumbfounded for a whole second before diving after Sonic. He'd caught Sonic before he'd hit the ground, and they'd straightened everything out in the end.

That was just Knuckles. Tails would never dare to laugh at him to his face, but… Knuckles hadn't had that much social interaction in his life, and the things he said cracked Tails up sometimes…

The fox paused, fisting his hands against the air duct floor. He took a deep breath, swallowing. Pain shone in his eyes and he closed them.

He let out sharp grunt and he pulled himself up the vent faster.

Tails stopped at the sixth floor. He paused to catch his breath and flicked his forelocks out of his eyes. He paused, sniffing. The smell was stronger. He saw an air duct grate and scrambled to it. He peered through the grate into the nearby room, narrowing his eyes.

Jagged, empty windows, their glass panes shattered. Soot covered the floor. A smashed lab stretcher laying on its side, the body restraints frayed and snapped.

Tails caught his breath. He put on his gas mask.

Something strange had happened in there. Sonic would want to know.

The grate was held to the wall with four screws. Tails flicked on his laser knife, letting the clear blade begin to fluoresce with heat. He slid it along the back of the grate, burning through the spines of the screws. He bit his lip.

The last screw snapped. Tails eased out the grate and slid it out of the way. He took a quick moment to stare into the room once again and for a moment, fear began to creep into his eyes. His neck fur stood on end.

Tails glanced behind him, wishing he was not alone.

He turned back to the room, gave a silent cough to clear his throat, and stretched out his gloved hands on the lab floor. He pulled himself out of the air duct and stood up, watching to make sure he did not disturb the soot.

He surveyed the room again. Equipment lined the upper walls of the lab room—hoses, gages, electricity generators with long wires and needles attached to them. A freaky mix of hospital, control panel, and kitchen. Green lights blinked along the equipment, casting shadows across the floor.

Tails stared in awe, his ears cocking.

He couldn't help himself.

He made his way towards a shelf piled high with tech. Tails snatched up the loose, smaller machines and cut their wires free with his laser knife. He started stuffing them into the leather satchel on his back and grinned.

He snatched up a last panel backing, rounded the corner and froze.

The fox wrapped his tails around him, letting out a shaky breath. His fur stood on end and he stared at a bare patch of the wall, his blue eyes wide.

Metal restraints ran along the wall, twisted strips of bronze and copper, pulled out into strange formations, like pulled taffy. The restraints roughly fit the shape of a creature. A chain ring for the neck, the wrists, the upper arms, the legs…

Tails stepped closer, his eyes round.

Knuckles could have twisted metal like that. Tails had seen him pick up trees before.

He glanced over his shoulder at the broken windows behind him, staring. Thinking.

He tapped the side of his gas mask and his tails began to wind together.

Why hadn't Robotnik cleaned up this place? What would cause soot to cover everything when there wasn't any other signs of an explosion? Was there any other creature than Knuckles that who would be strong enough to tear through metal? And a creature that Robotnik would want to restrain on top of that…perhaps some robots could tear through metal, but there was no reason for Robotnik to chain a robot to the wall.

Adding that to what the snitch had said…chances kept getting higher and higher that it was Knuckles.

-Movement blurred in the corner of his eye—

Tails spun his head to look up into the lens of a floating security camera. His heart leapt into his throat.

It stared down at him, hovering in the corner of the ceiling.

Tails caught his breath. He was dead.

Unless he was fast enough.

Tails grappled for the three shot blaster on his belt. And stopped. Instead he ripped out the spray paint can secured next to the blaster.

The eye of the camera blinked in perfect silence.

Tails swallowed, his heard pounding. It had probably already sent out an alarm, synced with Robotnik's headquarters, or worse, Robotnik's mind—

Tails shot his arm up, pressed down and sprayed. Paint streamed up into the eye of the camera and the hover bot reeled, hissing and buzzing.

Tails whipped his tails, sprang up, and snatched the bot.

His weight brought both of them down to floor, into the soot, the bot hissing the convulsing.

Tails wrapped his arms, tails and legs around it, gritting his teeth and prying at its back control panel. It snapped open.

He yanked his laser knife back out. Ripped the transmitted wires. Plunged the blade into the authorized off switch.

The bot sagged with a hum, suddenly weighing what felt like sixty pounds.

The fox staggered, nearly falling off balance. He gasped for breath, staring down at the bot. He blinked, then plunged his gloved fingers back into the back panel.

"Come on, think fast, think fast," Tails urged himself, scanning the innards of the security bot. "Think fast. Like Sonic. Come on, where are you, where are you, where are-"

A slim button with the word "eject" typed on it.

Tails pressed it, biting his lip. The long, silver memory card popped out of the side of the bot.

Tails snatched up the card, whipped his satchel off his back and pulled out his flashlight.

He screwed off the top, dumping the batteries inside the pack. He ripped a strip of fabric off his cargo pants. Wrapped it around the silver memory card. Slipped it into the empty flashlight.

It'd be protected in there.

Tails screwed the flashlight lid back on, glanced back around the room and crawled into the air duct. He did not bother to fix the cover.

He hadn't crawled for longer than five minutes when he heard them crash into the bottom story of the building.

 **Author's Note, 4/24/2017**

Hope you enjoyed! Have any questions or comments, leave a review below please! Reviews help inspire me to keep writing. :-)

I'm open to constructive critiques too, just no hate please. ;-) If this isn't your type of story, there's a ton more out there!

Keep fighting,

Constance

 **Chapter Updated, 11/22/2017**

A lot changed in this chapter! Still same plot though.


	6. Combots and Fox

Tails lay on his side in the air duct, breathing hard, heart pounding. He had tried to crawl back down into the bowels of the building before the combots reached the opening, but it was too late. He could hear them outside the wall, scanning, metal hinges and plugs hissing, heavy metal feet clapping against the floor.

He clutched the walkie talkie in one hand, hoping with all his might that Sonic would receive his signal from this point.

"S-Sonic," Tails whispered, gripping the talk button with locked knuckles, his eyes wide. "Come in, Sonic—I—I think I need back up. I'm at the Spectank lab and I found a lead on Knuckles I-"

The section of air duct just behind Tails exploded open. The whole structure shuddered. Tails let out a yelp of shock, pulling his legs and tails away from the blast of heat.

A large metal hand whipped into the air duct.

It locked onto his lower legs and one of his tails. With a scraping yank, the hand pulled him out of air duct.

The combot hurled the fox's body onto the cement floor.

Tails half slid, half-spun, grinding out a shout against the pain that shot through his bones.

He raised his head, breathing hard.

Five combots encircled the fox. All towering over him by at least ten feet. Interchangeable hands and gun canons. Three-legged. Three-armed. Hour-glass shaped. Their heads and sensory panels protected by clear, acid-proof covers.

The combot still held his legs. It lifted Tails off the floor, hanging him upside down.

Tails gasped out a yell.

The first time this had happened, the adrenaline pouring through him had paralyzed him. It never got any easier. He gulped in air, trying to keep breathing, trying to think-

-His pack had fallen off-three shot blaster still on his belt-hands still free-

Tails ripped the blaster from its holster.

He pointed it point blank at the giant hand trapping his lower body.

He fired.

The blast of acid spat onto the hand. It started eating away at the wires and hinges—

But another set of hands engulfed the fox's upper body. Pinning down his arms. Squeezing his chest.

Tails let out a shout and fired one more shot. He hit the acid-proof cover of a nearby combot.

Realization dawned in Tail's eyes.

A combot ripped the gas mask from his face.

A second knocked his blaster aside.

They slammed him into the floor.

Tails cried out. He gasped for breath, struggling against the metal hands pushing down on his rib cage.

It was no use.

They had him. If they wanted, they could snap his body like a twig.

"You are under arrest for breaking and entering the private property of The Doctor," said an automated female's voice. "Show me your factory number."

"The database recognizes him as affiliated with the hedgehog," said an identical voice. "He is not logged into a factory database."

Tails strained against their grasp, trying to wrench one arm free, his chest heaving.

A combot flipped him over. It pressed the five barrels of its combot arm cannon against the nape of his neck.

Tails felt the cold rims of metal and froze. He gasped out a shaky breath, and screwed his eyes shut.

 _Please, they could not shoot him. Sonic couldn't lose anyone else._

"You qualify as a hyper-security prisoner and shall be reported to The Doctor. You will be punished for your crimes against Robotropolis and the New Order."

Tails heaved for air, letting his forehead fall against the floor.

If they intended to take him to Robotnik, then perhaps they would not kill him this moment. He didn't know which was worse.

At least if he had time and if Sonic had gotten his message, Sonic could come in time. If Sonic came, Tails know he would live. Sonic would not let them take him. He was too fast for combots and he would never leave Tails to die. He never had and Tails knew he never would.

If Sonic had not gotten his message, he was alone. It was escape alone or die alone.

Tails breathed out slowly, opening his eyes. They were hard with dread.

"Mobian, do you have a statement as to why you were in Spectank lab?"

Tail's trapped hand pressed against the pocket of his cargo pants. He could feel the ring through the fabric.

"Yes—y-yes, ma'am, I—I do," Tails said, his voice shaking. He hesitated, stalling. "I—I—well. I just—"

"Give the statement."

Tails' mind raced. "I—I came in because I wanted to know why Robo—I mean, the Doctor—kidnapped a red echidna named Knuckles, how the echidna escaped from the lab out the window, and what happened to him." Tails said.

He knew it was a long shot, but maybe the combots would give him a clue as to if Knuckles had really been there or not. He might as well use the time he had.

As he had hoped, the combots took four precious seconds to process this statement. They were only robots after all. Tail's hand dug at his pocket.

"The prisoner has somehow accessed sensitive information," a combot finally said. "All others in this infographic were extracted and are deleted from files. We now have a conflict in commands."

Tails caught his breath, his blue eyes widening.

Meaning he should be dead along with the others. But he was still hyper-security, and they were programmed to let him live.

"I'm not from Robotropolis!" Tails blurted, his tone hardening, "I'm not in your files. Back where I come from everyone knows The Doctor kidnapped the echidna and stole the island relic—everyone. The queen, the council, the people—I was curious to see if it was really true or not—I guess they were right."

It was a bad bluff, but maybe it would confuse them more. Tails had three fingers in his pocket, and he could feel the ring warming as the tips of his gloved fingers brushed it.

"My files link him to the hedgehog." The head combot said. "This is a special-priority file. It out ranks the other files in question. Proceeding with analysis."

It knelt over Tails. It gripped the fox by the back of his head, the sharp brass fingers pressing into his skull.

Tails cringed beneath its hold.

"You will now answer these questions. Is the hedgehog with you? Did he send you to gather this sensitive information? Where is his location?"

Tails' blood pumped in his ears.

The hand jerked his head backwards and Tails let out a yelp of shock. The back base of his neck burned.

"No—wait, don't—," Tails rasped out, pushing down into his pocket harder for the ring.

"You must answer the questions. In cases such as these, standard protocol allows you one second chance to tell us. Afterwards, high-security prisoners will be begin the paralysis regime."

Tails' blood ran cold. Tears stung his eyes and he jammed his hand down into his pocket as hard as he could. His fingers felt like they were going to pop.

"Your question is: where is the hedgehog's location?"

Tails' breathing was shallow. He closed his eyes.

It was just him then. He must take a long time to respond and try to reach the ring. And he must brace himself if he failed.

Because he would _never_ betray Sonic. He was always afraid he would, and that had only strengthened his resolve. Day after day, night after night, terror after terror, loss after loss, side by side. He would bleed and break and die before turning on Sonic. It was the least he could do. Otherwise, he would have died alone years ago in that cage.

He better give them a good couple words to think about before they started breaking his back.

"Well." Tails said, his voice still shaking like a leaf, his eyes wide. "Well. You asked me where the hedgehog is located, but I need you to explain more. By "where is the hedgehog located" do you mean where does he live? Do you mean where he is at this very moment in space in time—and since I am not omnipresent, I doubt I could give you a very clear answer there—do you want the name of a street? A house? A forest? An object he frequently stands nearby? A place on a map?—"

The head combot cut Tails words short. "Answer insufficient. Second chance expensed."

The blood drained from Tails' face.

Robotnik had been streamlining the combot's processing. They were not as easy to dupe as they used to be.

The combot released Tail's head and cupped its hand tight around his neck at the base of his jaw. Moving into position, preparing. Tails began to shudder, begging in his heart, so close to the ring—

"You have not successfully answered the question, "Where is the hedgehog located?" Paralysis regime authoriz—"

"I'm right here, big guys." Sonic's voice rang through the room.

Tails opened his eyes and hope shot through them.

The combots turn to face the voice.

Tails locked a finger around the ring.

A blue and red streak torpedoed over Tails' face and into the wrist of the combot hand gripping his neck.

At the same moment, the ring activated. Energy waves shot through Tail's body. His own Mobium and the Mobium in the ring collided.

The combot hands pinning him to the floor exploded free from him as if cracking up against an invisible wall.

A Mobium shield.

The wall of Mobium energy thrust up and around Tail's body, gold, pulsing.

He yanked the growing ring from his pocket and the wall expanded in strength, circling around him.

Tails rose to his feet, combot canon fire ricocheting around him, off the globe. Across the room, Sonic rocketed around the walls of the building and in between the combots. The combots stopped firing and paused in confusion. Robotnik kept trying to program machines that could track something moving at Sonic's speed, but that was a tough order to fill.

Sonic crashed into the legs of one combot, bringing the whole machine down onto its face.

Tails cheered, gathering his breath, tears still glittering in his eyes. He raised his fist over his head.

That had been too close.

He broke into a run, still holding the shield. He pounced on his blaster and pack—the one with the flashlight and security camera memory file. He caught up his blaster—one shot left.

"Time me!" Sonic belted out as he whipped by.

"Five seconds," Tails belted back, cocking the blaster. Sonic ran so fast, he probably didn't heard. It didn't matter. Tails smile turned to a smirk, and he charged across the room towards the first downed combot.

Author's Notes:

Wow, so the uploading once a week thing didn't really happen. So sorry, followers! Thanks for sticking with me. :-)

I've had three trips in one month, so that's kept activity down. But ALSO I've been doing some story restructuring with the Presode (a collection of episodes of when Sonic was seven, origin story stuff). Thankfully, the main plot line of this story won't be affected, but just to warn you all the same-the format of these chapters may change in the future. ;-)

God bless! If you have any questions or comments, let me know, please!

 **Update, 12/4/17:** Majorly updated this chapter. Changed some of the dialogue and Tails' reactions. I go crazy if I can't get the characters' right...hopefully these changes will help (and not confuse) and I won't have to do that many more updates! ;-P


	7. For Maria

1.1.7 For Maria

Sonic's body surged with burning adrenaline.

They wanted a piece of him, huh? So they were gonna mess with Tails, huh?

He charged up the large front of a combot, and kicked up at the chin-like rim on the head panel. He wasn't strong, but, boy, could momentum double as strength any day.

The combot's head shot back with a small crunch, one of the neck hinges broken. The whole machine would be off balance now.

 _Take that._

Sonic reeled around the stumbling combot, just missing a hot canon blast at his heels. Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic glimpsed Tails charge across the room, twin tails propelling hard. Tails would take care of wiping the combot's memories and covering his back. They would have this mess cleaned up in a matter of minutes.

He couldn't resist a chuckle as he snapped into a spin dash, straight towards a combot canon. The canon fired, but his speed was on. He leapt over the blast, and smashed against the side of the canon. The structure bent with the impact, and a blast of pain shot up Sonic's legs.

Sonic bounded up the combot's shoulder as the robot spun around, trying to knock him off. He was just about to crack its neck when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of red hurtling towards him.

Knuckles?

Sonic risked a glance. In that millisecond, he snapped a picture of the face rushing towards him. A black hedgehog with crimson stripes down its forehead and accenting its turned-up spikes. Red, slanted eyes.

Shock bolted through Sonic.

 _A dark violet hedgehog, with rose stripes and rose eyes, stood before him. Accusation and fear burned in her eyes as she took a glowing, pulsing ring from his hands. His very small hands. The ring began to fade as soon as she had taken it from him. Her voice shook. "I never want you to touch one of these again-"_

The black hedgehog collided into Sonic.

Sonic let himself fall from the combot to the floor and rolled. He broke free from the hedgehog with a grunt and darted across the room.

Sonic spun about, expecting to see the hedgehog still recovering on the floor where he'd left him.

Instead, the hedgehog stood in front of him, face to face, his white gloved hand punching towards him.

The blow struck against Sonic's jaw and the force knocked him against the wall.

-He still had his speed on— _no one_ could punch him with his speed on—

"Woah, hold it!" Sonic shouted, thrusting his hands out, half to protect his face and half to show that he wasn't armed. "We're both Mobian, I'm on your side!" This hedgehog must be a confused escaping factory slave or something. "—Follow me and we'll get you out-"

Sonic didn't get to finish. The black hedgehog hissed and its fist blurred as it smashed against the side of his muzzle.

Sonic choked in surprise as his body slammed against the wall again.

He jerked up, a dare settling in his bright green eyes.

"—Or we could dance." Sonic challenged. He dropped to the floor and thrust his weight onto his hands and wrists. He swung his own legs into the legs of his attacker.

The black hedgehog tripped, but caught himself with his hands. He lunged at Sonic, all his spikes unsheathed.

Sonic wasn't going to wait for another hit. He pulled in on his speed harder, his gut churning, his own spikes unsheathed. He raced towards the black hedgehog.

Sonic ducked and twisted beneath the hedgehog's body, barely touching the floor. He sent his heel back up into the hedgehog's stomach, then arched his back-

The black hedgehog fell back, his eyes alight with anger. Sonic's spikes had raked across his uncovered torso.

Sonic smirked, jumping towards him to grab his wrists and pin him down. "Want seconds?"

The hedgehog in front of him disappeared.

"Woah—wha…?" Sonic landed in a crouch and froze, eyes round. He stared at the empty space on the ground.

An iron-hard grip snatched both of Sonic's wrists from behind.

Sonic didn't flinch.

"What is this, some type of east coast swing-?" Sonic flipped back into a spin dash. He hit the hedgehog's face with his sneakers. He didn't take a moment to catch his breath—he leapt and flipped again and again, twisting his body and kicking hard-

The hold on his wrists only tightened. Even after he was certain he'd hit the attacker in the face at least three time.

This was new. And he was scared.

The hedgehog whipped Sonic off his feet and sent him crashing, for the third time, into the wall, knees and face first. Sonic grimaced in pain. The attacker twisted Sonic's arms behind his back and thrust his weight on him, pinning him against the wall.

"Sonic!" Tail's voice rang out.

Sonic opened his eyes.

Tails stood in an empty, combot-ridden room, a bewildered look on his face.

The fox charged towards Sonic, blaster in one hand. "Put him down!" he screamed.

Sonic tried to surge backwards with his speed, but the hedgehog only pressed harder against him.

Sonic could feel the blast of the hedgehog's breath against his cheek. " _Sonic._ No more one-liners?"

Tails stopped a few yards away, blaster muzzle fixed on the attacker's head. "I will kill you if you hurt him!" Tails' blurted, his voice shooting up several octaves. But his aim was steady.

"Wait, Tails," Sonic barked out. "Look, here," he said to attacker, "Who are you? Are you with Robotnik?"

"Does it matter?" Sonic felt something hot and firm snap onto his twisted wrists, and then his ankles. "It's not worth telling you anything—I'm going to kill you-"

A bullet cracked. The weight pressing on Sonic jolted free, falling away from him.

Sonic rolled backwards, but his hands and ankles were shackled.

He spun around on his knees to see the black hedgehog lying on his side on the floor, his red eyes fixed on Sonic. He blinked. A bullet hole showed clearly in his head and dark blood began to pool across his face and onto the floor.

Sonic breathed out.

Tails dashed to Sonic, shoving his blaster back into his holster. "Sonic, are you all ri-"

The black hedgehog lunged out with one arm, smashing a fist into Tail's face.

Pain and fear ripped through Sonic like an electric shock.

Tails choked in surprise, and the attacker rose, swinging his fist again with his speed.

Sonic jumped to his feet, and tried to half-lunge, half-roll to Tails, but it was already too late. The hedgehog gave another punch to Tail's face, three to his gut, and one blow to the back of his knees, knocking Tails to the floor. All in less than a second. The hedgehog snatched Tails by the head fur and ear, and thrust him back, away from Sonic.

"Stop that!" Sonic snarled. Even though his ankles were shackled he still leapt at the hedgehog. He pushed back on his shackled hands, bringing both his sneakers up so that they kicked into the attacker's chest.

The hedgehog staggered back, but not for long.

Sonic was defenseless.

The attacker's white gloved fist shot out and circled around Sonic's throat. His hold tightened, and he lifted Sonic from the ground.

Sonic gasped for breath, his bodyweight all hinged on his neck, his airways constricting.

The hedgehog looked up at him, the red eyes locked on his, his brow set in a determined glare. The fingers around Sonic's neck seemed to push into his windpipe.

The terror of suffocation began to seize Sonic, and he tried to tear his wrists free from the shackles. He kicked out at the hedgehog, desperate.

With his free hand, the black hedgehog pulled out a multi-chamber black blaster, its frequency set to acid.

Sonic screwed his eyes shut.

"If I had the rings, like I should have had, I would have saved her," the hedgehog said. A hint of rage shook his words. "But _you_ had them."

Sonic could barely concentrate on what he said. It felt like all his senses were closing in on each other and he struggled for air. Nothing. He needed to breathe. His head ached. His neck was going to snap. He needed to breathe—he needed to breathe-

"For Maria," came the sharp whisper. Sonic managed to recognize the sound of a gun cocking. He felt the cold metal of the barrel against his chin.

-Then came another sound.

The sound of an acid magazine ejecting from the gun's chamber.

Sonic managed to open his eyes just enough to catch a blur of orange fur.

Heheehee, bet everyone knows who the black and red hedgehog is. Heads up, obviously, I've kept some of his canon background, but there's a huge part of it that original too. So, don't think too canon with him. ;-)

If this canon character is one of your favorite Sonic characters-what are some specific details about him that make him your favorite? I might just keep/add them.

~Constance


	8. Acid Magazine

1.1.8. Acid Magazine

Tails was too angry and terrified to feel any pain from his beating. He didn't need time to think or feel, he just did.

He leapt onto the black hedgehog's head, laser knife in hand, letting his twin tails propel straight into the attacker's face.

It barely took a second for him to yank the barrel of the gun away from Sonic's face, slide both the magazine eject latches, and rip his laser knife through the partially ejected acid magazine.

Acid spewed from the magazine down the black hedgehog's arms and torso.

The attacker let out the first cries of realization and pain, stunned by Tail's entrance. The fox tackled Sonic as the hedgehog released him, and Tails pulled his brother free from the acid spill.

Tails knew they couldn't waste a moment. Sonic coughed for air, blinking and shaking his head—he couldn't run.

Tails may have weighed far less than Sonic, and he was small, but he flew Sonic places just about every day. He was strong when he had to be.

He snatched Sonic beneath his arms, whipped his tails into motion and propelled to the air duct-away from the room-away from the acid-covered hedgehog.

The black hedgehog hurled the empty acid gun at Tails, trying to stagger after them. "There must be justice, Sonic—there will-" he broke off and roared in pain. His front was covered in blood, eaten by the acid. He fell to his knees.

Tails flung Sonic into the air, panting hard, and with a quick twist of his laser knife, snapped the hinges on the shackles around Sonic's ankles. Sonic still gasped for breath and his eyes were out of focus. Tails kicked Sonic over and cut the shackles on his wrists. "Come on, we've gotta run now!" he shouted. "Go! Go!"

Sonic nodded to show Tails he understood. He ran a gloved hand over his face. "Mmm, yeah, gotta go, okay-!"

Sonic snatched Tails wrist. He spun around, put on his speed and the two began scrambling through the air duct as fast they he could.


	9. Robot on the Balcony

1.1.9 Robot on the Balcony

The buzz of conversation and an upbeat harp tune thrummed throughout the Royal Open Hall. The Mobian's People Council had been dismissed and now the gentry and their families mingled throughout the room.

Princess Sally stood next to the Queen, smiling, nodding and laughing at the comments her subjects made to her in passing. She tilted her head just right-brushed back a few strands of auburn hair—glanced up at them from beneath her dark lashes. She balanced a cup of punch in one hand, sipping from it every now and then. Whenever she did, her gaze flicked across the room, looking for Robotnik.

The mecha human always seemed to have cornered some poor Mobian into a conversation somewhere around the perimeter of the room. He was occupied.

Sally kept having to stop herself from crumpling her skirt in her fist. She could feel the outline of her computer console, Nicole, in the pocket of the gym shorts she wore beneath her gown.

She would only take ten minutes.

Sally turned to her entourage, four young Mobian guards, staring at her in adoration from their positions behind her. She nodded to them, a sharp look in her eyes, and flicked her wrist.

At once, they stepped forward, allowing her to step behind them and the pillars lining the hall. They watched her back, and the princess strode into the back halls safe and sound.

The minute she was out of sight, she snatched up the skirt of her gown and pitched herself through a high window.

She slid down the wall to the gardens below, behind the hedges outlining the open lawn, landing on both feet. She hitched up one side of her dress and pulled Nicole from her gym shorts, running her thumb over the top of the gummed-up computer console.

Sally dropped her skirt back over her shorts, looked up to check her surroundings, then made a running dash from the hedges. She hurried down a small path leading away from the lawn, glancing behind her.

She slowed and stepped out onto a tile balcony overlooking Capitol Aero.

She took a second to look down on the moonlit-bathed city sprawled out below the palace cliff face. The wood-carved tree palaces and villages were almost disguised in the dark. A few stone parapets here and there gave away the location of the more prominent city buildings. A soft wind rushed through the trees, causing them to sway and churn. Multi-colored stars lay scattered across the sky, piles of diamonds and rubies and sapphires.

The wind played with her hair and she did not bother fixing it.

She heaved a deep breath and opened Nicole.

She pressed in the passcode to access her message files. Sonic had left her two. One two hours ago, another fifteen minutes ago. She pinched her lip and bent her ear against the speaker.

"Hey, Sal." Nicole's recorder played. "Save some food from the party for us three, okay? I'll touch back with you in a bit. We may be able to scrounge up something here instead. See ya."

The chipmunk took a deep breath, relief flooding through her eyes. They had gotten in safely. She opened message two.

"Hey Sal."

She frowned, worry lines pinching her brow. Something was wrong. She could already hear it in his voice, even though he was trying to sound just as positive and confident as ever.

"So…we didn't find any food. Well, actually, the stove got out of hand and Tails and I both burned ourselves pretty badly. Bunnie didn't get burned. We'll be okay, but we can't use the stove, so no food. Pretty hungry. Um-" She could hear scrambling noises and someone's panicked whisper in the background. "-So. We're not going to eat tonight. I hope you have good leftovers for us, because we need it…" he paused. "We found some really weird stuff in the cupboard actually…I may need to go out of town later tomorrow. Stock up on groceries for Grampa Chuck. Ah well, thanks for looking out for us. Bet all those fancy people there are stuffed already. I'll try to talk to you after I deliver the rings to the Doctor tomorrow. See ya, Sal, over n' out."

Sally lowered the console. She gripped Nicole with locked knuckles staring at nothing.

Something was _very_ wrong.

Her mind raced. "Going out of town" had to mean that Sonic could be in danger if he came back home…

"Enjoying the evening, princess?"

Sally snapped Nicole shut and turned her head.

Robotnik stood at the head of the path, his metal hands clasped behind his back.

She let her gaze linger on his red laser eyes for a second, her eyes wide.

She should not be alone with him.

"Yes," she finally blurted, lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders. She laughed and tossed her head. "I needed to get away for a moment. My entourage agreed to wait nearby."

Her heart pounded in her chest. She looked back out over the city. If he planned to kill her in, mentioning her entourage might make him think twice about his timing.

Robotnik "hmm-ed" in his throat. "Were you talking to the hedgehog?"

Sally's eyes widened. She breathed out slowly.

"I thought I recognized his voice?" Robotnik said, stepping closer, behind her.

His claw-like metal hand clasped onto her shoulder, his "fingers" cold and sharp.

Sally stiffened and jerked out of his grasp, whirling to face him. "Do not touch me-," she spat, then cut short. She clenched her jaw.

The gears in his hands clicked and he let out an automated _hmmm_.

"My father," Sally gritted out, "if he were here would never let you treat Momma or my people or Sonic the way you do."

"Darling, I am not afraid of any little Mobian," Robotnik said. "You or your father."

His hand shot up, clutching onto her face, around her mouth. In an instant, he spun her around, holding her pinned backwards against his egg-shaped metal torso, his hand gagging her.

Sally tried to shout, kicking into release maneuver out of instinct, slamming her free fists back against Robotnik's chest—but her self defense training was useless on a robot like Robotnik. His other hand wrapped around her waist and he hefted her feet off the floor.

Sally changed her attack and grasped for the Mobium rings she always wore on a chain around her waist. Robotnik's hand closed over hers, squeezing hard.

"Shh, shh," his automated voice whispered next to her ear. "Do not worry, princess, I'm not going to hurt you or kill you. If I did that, I would have to go back into that hall and kill them all, and I'm not ready for that yet. I just wanted to give you a very clear, simple warning. Let's be honest with each other. You know this is my kingdom. Your father isn't coming back, and your mother doesn't know what she is doing."

Heat raged through Sally's body and her eyes burned with hate.

"It's very…cute, the way you put on your little authoritative protector of the planet act, but we both know I call the shots. I work through you all now, but someday, even that will be gone. Very soon, you won't have a Mobia to rule."

He paused. Sally writhed in his grasp.

"You know, I have had, what is it four years now? Four years to watch you…I would love to roboticize you."

Her eyes widened. She tried to open her mouth, but his metal hand pressed harder against her jaw.

"So since we know where this planet is going," Robotnik continued, "why not make the best of it? I would love for you to be a high ranking citizen in my model society. I know how these people look up to you. A lot less people will die if you give them an example to follow. I could make you into anything you would like to be in my new society, and I could certainly keep you're your looks. You are a very pretty specimen of Mobian," he chuckled to himself and his torso reverberated. "I've been around your species too long. Though, do understand, I find beauty very inefficient in most cases. I could make an exception for you though. You could perhaps be…an "attractive" robot who greet those visitors to my society who are still affected by beauty. People who might visit my planet to see if they want to adopt my ideal society for their own."

She let out a loud muffled scream in the back of her throat, shaking her head as hard as she could.

"I know, the thought of being a robot is off-putting to some," Robotnik said. "But really, princess, you are a robot now, just a robot made of flesh, with programmed instincts and responses. Except your current design is flawed-you die, and there is vast inefficiency in the array of emotions you experience—even love, considered a very positive emotion, is not really efficient. It's distracting, and most social ills stem from love or a perceived lack of love—forgive me, am I rambling again?"

Silence.

"You know, I feel as if people never understand and I need to keep talking to get them to understand," he sighed. "Sally."

He never called her by her name. Her ears flicked back.

"You are still young," he continued. "And it seems to be the young ones who defy reality. But I wouldn't push too hard. Sometimes giving nice little speeches can put dangerous ideas into your subjects' heads. It makes them more prone to make bad decisions. Decisions that could get them killed. I would hate to have to go after them or you because people started opposing me. Or my society. As for that _hedgehog_ ," he spat out. "Go ahead and warn him, if you haven't already. Tell him all about my plans for him. If he runs and doesn't bring my rings to me tomorrow, the truce is over, and the first one who will suffer will be your mother."

The two stood in silence, Robotnik still holding Sally pinned. She had stopped fighting, taking shallow breaths.

"And if you tell anyone—anyone—that we had this little conversation, I will find out. And again, your mother will be the first to pay. I know it must be a tricky balance for you—trying to fight me with every ounce of strength you have and trying to keep me from crushing your little world out there at the same time."

He turned her head so that she could see the open balcony and the city below.

"One of them has to go some time…cooperate with me, or this kingdom will fall," He sighed. "Don't scream, please."

He flung her to the balcony floor, against the rail.

Sally snatched the rail, panting for breath, her clenched fists shaking.

Behind her, he stared, his laser eyes fixed on her back. Then he turned and strode back to the lawn.

She bent against the rail, listening to him leave. She tried to unclench her fists, but could not. They were shaking too much. She pressed them against the rail, trying to steady them.

She dragged herself up to her feet, hissing through her teeth, blinking back the tears threatening to burst free.

She tried to slow her breathing.

She had to be brave.

She had to stay strong.

She stood there, looking down at her city.

 _"_ _Daddy, do not worry, I will make sure the kingdom is safe while you are gone." The seven-year old princess clung to her father's waist, still wearing her nightdress, her auburn hair tied back in messy braid. In one hand she clutched the sheathed short sword she always kept by her bed. In the other, she clutched Nicole._

 _He picked her up. "Thank you, Sally…"_

 _He was a handsome king, with his fine, dark facial markings—his thick, long red hair—his intelligent blue eyes. His robe flowed from the clasps at his shoulders, enveloping him and his daughter._

 _His voice was confident and safe._

 _"…_ _You are my strong little princess. You are going to need to be very brave while I'm gone. Remember that. You might be scared sometimes, but you need to listen to your mother and keep doing the right thing, even if it is scary or hard."_

 _"_ _Yes, Daddy," Sally said, her blue eyes burning with understanding. "I will do my best."_

 _Her Daddy did scary things all the time. It was part of his job, and now it was part of her job too._

 _"_ _You should exterminate that evil human man." she said. He was doing something wicked in New Mobius. She did not know what, but it must be terrible if it meant Daddy had to go fight it._

 _He smiled at her, then glanced over his shoulder. "I need to go now. Goodbye, Sally." He kissed her, ran a hand over her hair, and then turned to his escort, a fleet of Mobian dragons. They strode across the open balcony, the dragon's wings extending for take-off._

 _"_ _Goodbye, Daddy!" the princess shouted._

 _She stopped, biting her lip. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she knew she couldn't. She could not cry in front of Mama and the rest of the palace entourage. Then they would know she was afraid._

And a princess could not be afraid.


	10. Getting Out

Outside Robotropolis, a four-person mass streaked across the open wasteland.

"Still here, Tails?" Sonic grunted out, fighting against the pressure of the air.

Sonic held Bunnie, her arms circled around his neck in a death grip. Bunnie held the walrus, and Tails clung to the back of Sonic's head spikes.

Tails shouted back into Sonic's ear from his perch. "Still here! No surveillance bots, Sonic! We're almost clear!"

Sonic's eyes narrowed, plowing ahead.

He raced over the last remnants of the junkyard and he glimpsed the bulldozer, but he didn't stop there. He sucked up another breath of air and pushed his body forward, through the night forest—over large fallen logs and rock outcrops—around massive trees thicker than all of their bodies put together—through fern and moss beds.

They passed their third mile.

"Sa'nic!" Bunnie shouted, "We're clear, honey, slow down!"

Sonic didn't reply.

Tails frowned, holding his breath.

 _Sonic was scared._

Sonic heaved up another push of Speed and pain bolted through his body. The hurt streaked across his eyes and he gasped. He couldn't talk. He was running out of juice. He set his jaw in a grimace.

Sonic raced up the side of a small cliff, and gravity set in. For an awful second, he felt himself slowing down against his will, losing momentum, and he gasped.

Tails felt Sonic jolt beneath him. He lunged forward and began to propel his tails behind him, grunting hard. "C'mon, Sonic!"

Sonic rounded the top of the cliff, and he dashed beneath a tangle of tree roots. With a lunge, he slid forward, dust and dirt spraying up onto the four. They skidded several yards before Sonic collapsed backwards in the dirt, pinned beneath Bunnie and the walrus.

Sonic fell with his head spikes on Tails. Tails let out a sharp yelp and scrambled free before the tough spike ends poked him. Bunnie crawled off of Sonic, carrying the walrus in her robotic arm as if he weighed little more than a baby.

She brushed her hair back from her eyes, glancing back behind them. She lay the walrus down on the ground. "Looks like, we made it, Rotor," she whispered. "We're almost there, sugar."

The walrus looked around groggily.

Sonic still lay on his back, his stomach heaving as he gasped for breath. He staring up at the arching and winding roots above them. The Mobium raced through his body, trying to bring some relief to his burning limbs.

He didn't usually carry three people at once. He wasn't actually strong enough to carry three people without his Speed. He'd had to get a running start down the tunnel and scoop up Bunnie and the walrus at the last minute.

He'd made it though. He would _not_ have dared to take a full thirty minutes dodging surveillance bots while carrying them all out one by one. Not when that creep might be on their tail. That thing had had _Speed_.

They had to keep moving.

Bunnie turned to Sonic, a broad grin on her face. "We made it, Sa'nic, good goin'." She tucked back a strand of hair behind one of her long, golden lop-ears. "You okay?"

Her eyes flashed. She knew something was up.

"Yep-sure thing, Bunnie—we're out—n'good—like always—like I said-" Sonic managed to get out between breaths. His throat still throbbed from the attacker's choke hold. "Let's move. We've gotta move."

Sonic rolled onto his side and tried to stand up. His legs buckled.

"Ah now, Sa'nic, we'll hurry, but you take a good minute to catch your breath, okay? We're in the forest now, those nasty surveillance bots ain't gonna bother us here any time soon," Bunnie said.

Sonic fell back, gritting his teeth. "Just—one minute. So. Who've—who've—we got?"

"Name's Rotor," Bunnie said, casting a smooth smile at the walrus.

Tails had sat down a few feet away, his tails wrapped tight around his body. At these words, he lifted his head up. "He's—awake?" Tail's blue eyes widened.

The fox was trying to put on a good face. They all were.

"He sure is, darlin'," Bunnie said. "Went in and out while I was tendin' to him."

The walrus—Rotor—stared up at the roots and the glimmers of the star-strewn sky shining down above them. "Where—where have you…taken me?" He asked, his voice still shaky.

"The forest of Mobia, Rotor," Bunnie said. She eased down to her knees, the hinges in her legs creaking. "An' far away from Robotropolis."

Rotor did not say a word.

"And you are never goin' back," Sonic said, his breath returning. "-Not if any of us have anything to do with it." His eyes sharpened and he forced a smirk, sitting up. He crossed his arms and wrapped his hands around his elbows.

"It's beautiful." Rotor said. Tears brimmed in his grey-green eyes.

"There now," Bunnie soothed, her raspy voice growing softer. "It sure is, deary…."

Stone-blue fur had grown back on Rotor's bare spaces and good thick scabs now covered the deeper wounds. But he wasn't strong yet. He needed time and more healing rings.

Tails stood, hands clasped behind his back. He bowed his head and his tails wound behind him. "Should…should we take him to the Underground, Sonic?"

Sonic took one look at Tails and their eyes met.

 _What was going to happen to them?_

"Yeah, 'course Tails, only thing to do," Sonic said, forcing a grin. "Crème will fix him up in no time—you know how good she is at that kinda thing," Sonic pushed himself up into a crouch, his legs still burning, then half stood up, over his knees. He looked at Rotor. "I hope you like whole food, because that's what _free_ Mobians eat."

They hadn't even found Knuckles.

Sonic glanced away, glaring at the ground.

"Hey, by the way, Rotor," Tails piped up, running over to help Rotor sit up. "Sonic said you knew something about our friend…

Sonic scratched the back of his neck, glancing behind him. "Yeah, uh….Rotor." He snapped his fingers. "You mentioned something about the relic and a red echidna when I first found you. Can you remember what you meant by-"

Rotor's eyes widened in confusion.

Bunnie held up her hand. "I already asked him, Sa'nic. Don't bother him with questions now. The poor fella doesn't remember a thing."

"I'm…sorry," Rotor said, his eyes beginning to haze over.

"It's just fine, honey," Bunnie soothed, patting his shoulder with her real hand. Then she turned to Sonic. "Poor fellah, I really think that nasty ol' Robotnik musta done something horrible to his brain," Bunnie whispered, "He couldn't remember nothin' about our Knuckles or red echidnas or the lab or anything."

"Well, he knew something when I first found him." Sonic crossed his arms tight. He tapped his foot against the ground several times from his crouch.

Tails stiffened, watching.

"For whatever reason, he doesn't remember a blessed thing now," Bunnie said. "We talked a good deal when he came to, and he only remembers workin' in the factories. Ya know, he must have been in an awful state when you first found him. Who can say what's been happening in his brain. You never know, somethin' may come back to him later on-"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever Bunnie, I get it," he swiped a hand, rising to his feet. "I got the info when we really needed it, back there. If he doesn't have it anymore, he doesn't have it. Let's get outta here, okay? I don't even wanna think about what time it is."

Bunnie shut her mouth, her face reddening a little. She picked up Rotor.

Sonic glared up at the night sky.

 _Yeah, information that had almost gotten Tails and him killed for nothing._

Bunnie began to walk away with Rotor, talking to him gently as he began to fall back to sleep. "Now, we're gonna have to walk a bit to disguise our prints. Sa'nic's speed can be a little messy sometimes."

"O-okay…" Rotor wheezed, still looking a little stunned. He murmured under his breath. "Did…did someone say something about _whole_ food…?"

Sonic's ears pricked forward and he began to march. He stepped next to Tails.

"Oh, he sure did," Bunnie said. "No more nutrition capsules for you, just fried chicken an' cashew salads an' apples an' oranges an' okra-"

"And chili dogs," Sonic interjected, swiping his arm around Tails. The fox almost fell over.

"I just...can't believe…" Rotor stammered. "There are just so many trees—I wish the others could…."

"I know, I know, now you just rest, Rotor," Bunnie ordered.

Sonic shot a sharp glance over his shoulder, back in the direction of Robotropolis, Bunnie's voice resounding in his ears.

The forest met his gaze, dark, silent, empty…


	11. The Underground

The four climbed down through one of the many cavern entrances. Into the system of underground caves in planet Marto. The place smelled of dirt and wet and Tails had wrapped his tails around his bare arms to ward off the cold. Bunnie marched on in the front, still talking in soft tones in answer to Rotor's dazed questions. The light from her watch cast a greenish glow on the rocks around them.

Now that his adrenaline had had time to cool, Sonic could feel the numbness on his face from where the hedgehog had punched him. His throat still burned and he glanced over his shoulder every now and then, his ears cocked.

Tail's eye and lip were starting to swell, and his gait was stiff. The fox no longer looked like a young rebel warrior who could think fast enough to use an attacker's own acid magazine against him, or who could hide from a heat-seeking missile in a thermos.

He and Sonic looked like who they were—two kids who had spent all day doing grown up things, and now needed to go home.

Tails kept close to Sonic and he heaved a sigh. Then he yawned.

Sonic glanced at Tails. He stopped and crouched down low, curling over his knees. "Come on, bro," Sonic ordered. Tails climbed onto Sonic's back, smoothing down the hedgehog's back spikes. The fox let his forehead slump against Sonic's shoulder.

Sonic stood up and shifted his weight as he walked, the corner of his mouth turning up.

Ten minutes later, they rounded a corner and a warm, yellow light beamed up ahead.

"Well, bless mah stars, looks like we found it again, ev'rybody!" Bunnie whispered loudly. She hurried her pace, darting through a narrow crack in the cave wall.

They stepped out onto a rug on the floor of an open cavern chamber and strode forward. A single electric light bulb hung from the ceiling.

Rotor gasped.

It was as if they had reached the heart of the planet. Light bulbs, old neon signs, glow rocks and candles were placed throughout the room for lighting, revealing the chamber. Rock outcroppings, massive overhangs, and ledges jutted out from the cavern chamber walls and floors, but they could not obscure the vastness of the room. It stretched on, past the ledges, and parts of the ceiling rose up in never ending vertical chasms.

The air was cool and fresh and smelled of plants. Somewhere in the distance, water trickled.

Sonic sighed, his shoulders slumping. Tails dozed on, oblivious.

A little girl's voice broke the stillness and echoed through the room.

"Miss Bunnie! Mr. Sonic!"

The stomp of boots echoed through the cavern and then a lop-eared Mobian rabbit child darted around one of the ledges to meet them. She saw them and gasped, her large brown eyes alight with happiness. Her fur coloring was milky cream, except for a few round splashes of chocolate brown on her head, ears, and around her eyes. She stood only about a foot and a half tall and couldn't have been older than ten.

"Crème!" Bunnie said, hurrying to her.

The little girl clutched the edges of a slightly dusty, but crisp, skirt and curtseyed to them. "Good evening, Mr. Sonic!" She paused and her eyes widened. "Is…Mr. Knuckles not here?"

Sonic forced a grin, and strode over to her. He crouched down and met her eyes. "Mr. Knuckles isn't here this time, Crème, but we're gonna get him."

Crème bowed her head, understanding. She didn't speak for a second.

"We've got someone else for you to fix up though!" Sonic said, pushing back onto his feet.

Crème looked past Sonic, her eyes shy. She scooted around him, clasping her hands behind her back. "Who is he?"

"This here is Mr. Rotor, Crème," Bunnie said.

Crème froze. "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Sonic teased, stepping behind her. "I thought you liked it when we got people outta that rotten metal city."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Sonic," Crème corrected shyly. "But I don't like it when they're hurt. I don't like it when anyone is hurt." She faced them all. "You had better follow me. I have a nice ledge fixed up for him, and I have some tea almost ready too. Mr. Sonic, you cannot have any cola because it is much too late for sugar, but you can have honey in your tea, and I'll make sure it's strong."

Sonic snapped his fingers, pretending to be disappointed. "Well, guess it'll have to do! Can't tell a lady no, huh, Tails?"

Tails lifted his head, his eyes still heavy with sleep. "Wha…?"

Crème looked away, fidgeting with her skirt. She turned to Rotor. "Mr. Rotor, I hope you have a pleasant stay," Crème said, clasping her hands. "I will be your hostess, so if you need anything just let me know. I can help you get comfortable, but I'm afraid I only know a little nursing, so if you need a doctor, I will get one for you in the morning…"

And with that, she turned on the heel of her combat boots and began to lead them further into the cavern chamber. The eclectic lighting cast a magical aura to the place. The cave floor was perfectly swept and dotted with rugs. As they walked, they past piles of discarded machinery and furniture along the walls.

Bunnie acted as tour guide. "Excuse the mess, Rotor, we try t' keep this place nice, but Ah need a lot of spare parts for this tin can body o' mine here, and Tails needs to tinker and—well, some of this stuff we just couldn't stand seeing laying out in a junkyard somewhere."

They stepped out past several large ledges into a more open part of the cavern.

Disbelief registered on Rotor's face.

The remnants of a once elegant chandelier hung from the roof over the room, casting light on a circle of salvaged furniture. A stream of water fell from the ceiling into a pool at the far end of the room. Mosses and different types of plants lined the walls close to the pool, clustered under large light bulbs. On the other side of the room, someone had used the cavern ledges as shelves for old records, books, movie reels, and random odds and ends. A makeshift radio, record player and projector sat on the lowest shelves.

All across the room, old soup cans had been placed with care and filled with fresh flowers.

"Wow," Rotor gasped.

"This here is our sittin' room," Bunnie laughed. "Or more like our wrestling room, if the boys have their way. See those records and books over there? We found most of those in the Robotropolis junkyard. The last remnants of New Mobius and life before Robotnik turned on the city. They're some of our most prahzed treasures."

Sonic grinned. "Yeah."

Some of those records were from his family's apartment. He'd found them where their complex had fallen. They were mostly random radio clips his family had managed to tune into and record from earth, across the dimensional divide. The Glenn Miller recordings, good old Winnie's fireside chats—he'd even found the Frankie Lymon record they'd made. That had been one of the newer ones. He remembered listening to them as a kid all the time…

Sonic stepped into the ring of chairs, whistling the opening lines of Miller's _Moonlight Serenade_ to himself.

Tail's ear twitched and he opened one eye.

"Oh, we're here," Tails murmured.

"Sure are, kiddo," Sonic sniggered and dumped the fox off his back onto an upholstered sofa.

Crème covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. She cleared her throat. "Miss Bunnie, please put Mr. Rotor on the loveseat."

Bunnie lowered the speechless walrus down to the sofa. Tears glinted in his eyes. "Thanks."

Creme picked up a quilt and draped it over the walrus. "This will be the best place for you for now, Mr. Rotor. Then while dinner is heating up and the tea is served, I can be your nurse. We have some emergency healing rings here too if you need them." Crème turned to the others. "Mr. Sonic…Mr. Tails, your faces look awful."

They did look awful, but Sonic waved his hand. "Aw, we've been through worse. Your cooking'll be healing ring enough."

Crème's eyes lit up. "Oh! Well, in that case, you had better sit down at the table." She spun around and darted off down a second hall, her combat boots once again pounding on the floor.

Sure enough, a large sheet-metal table sat in the back corner of the room, covered with a green checkered tablecloth, set for four.

"That's more like it!" Sonic blurted, grinning. He raced to the table, already starting to feel better about the future and life in general.

Rotor stared after Crème, his eyes blank. "… I haven't seen a little girl look like that since I was taken to Robotropolis."

"Yeah," Sonic took a seat on a red-backed bar stool. "Most kids have a pretty good amount of energy when they aren't having their Mobium sucked from them every week."

Rotor stared at him. Only he and Tails caught the involuntary shiver that ran through Sonic and how the hedgehog clenched his fists to hide it.

Tails climbed into the seat next to Sonic, wrapping his tails around himself.

Sonic glanced over the place settings on the table and his mind clicked. "Four?" He twisted around. "Crème, who's number four?"

As if on cue, a high-pitched scream rang out from down the tunnel, echoing through the rooms. "Sonic is back?" a girl's voice shouted.

Sonic shot up from his chair, bracing himself against the table. He darted a look to Tails. "—I thought she was working," he blurted.

Tails glanced away, pretending to drink from his empty cup.

A sakura-colored hedgehog charged into the cavern from a side passage, skirts flouncing and green eyes afire. "Sonic! Sonic! Sonic!"

Before Sonic could choke out a word, she dashed up to him, flung her arms around his neck, and collapsed against him, her eyes closed in rapture.

Sonic's voice cracked, shooting up an octave. "Amy Rose!"

"Oh, Sonic," she gasped, "I missed you so much—I was so worried about you! I've been waiting for you all night and here you are, back in one piece, oh! Oh!-"

Sonic opened his mouth. "Am—"

She slapped her hand over his mouth, giggling. "Wait, wait, first I have to look at you."

She grabbed his hands and stepped back, her eyes sparkling. She gasped, a blush creeping over her peach-colored cheeks. She blinked her long dark eyelashes and touched his bruised chin. "Ooooh…my dear, Sonnikku. You are so brave." She sighed again, clasping her hands. "I…I'm so sad I didn't go with you this time."

Sonic's pupils were narrowed to slits. He stood stiff against the table. For three seconds. Then he sagged.

He reached out, snagged Amy's arm and pulled her to him. She let out a little shriek as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Sonic! Sonic stop—aaaaaaah," Amy giggled again, pretending to fight him. She clung to him, leaning her head against his chest.

"Now, Amy, Amy, Amy," Sonic chided with a smirk. "I always tell you, you know, you don't have to worry about _this_ hedgehog. I'm too fast for any of those metal-heads to hit." He pulled back a little and tucked his hand beneath her chin. He tilted her face up. He ran a thumb over her forehead, smoothing back her pink forelocks. "You had all-night cleaning shift at Momma Robotnik's though, and that's no doozy. Whatcha doing here, Ames?"

She looked up at him. Her green eyes shone with adoration and devotion from beneath her eyelashes. Her eyes were a sharper shape than the other Mobians present—an indication of her Eastern Mobian heritage. She let out a long sigh, as if too dumbfounded to speak.

"You…okay, Ames?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

She sighed again. "Oh, yes, Sonic. I'm just so happy you're here." She hugged him again. She closed her eyes hard and a tear escaped. "Everything else is so…so…" she stopped, a sob breaking free.

"Hey, Ames," Sonic said, running his hand through her pink head spikes again. "We're working on it. Don't let them getcha down, okay? Tomorrow's gonna be better."

"Okay, Sonic," Amy choked out. She practically melted into him.

She would behave herself for the rest of the night now. After a lifetime of knowing Amy Rose, Sonic had picked up a few survival tricks. If he humored her, the hammer stayed put, and she'd do anything he wanted.

Plus, she had gotten kinda cute over the last few years, so he didn't mind her hanging onto him quite as much as he used to.

At the table, Tails and Bunnie stared. Tails shot Sonic a tired look of disapproval, one eyebrow raised. Bunnie's eyes flashed with amusement—or was it jealousy?

"Rotor, this is Amy Rose-" Bunnie started.

Amy Rose jumped free of Sonic, then spun to face Rotor. "Oh, hello, hello!" She waved, clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. Then she caught herself, gasped, and burst into a series of bows, blurting in a nonstop string, "What an honor to meet you, sir Knuckles, I'm Amy Rose, and I am Sonic's girlfriend, we're betrothed and someday we'll be married, you've probably heard tons about me already, I am so glad you're alive, we are all honored to even be in your presence, you must be the highest Guardian in our planet, Crème and I will do everything we can to make sure you heal and no one will disturb you or find you down here. All the credit for your rescue must go to Sonic, he's the one who has banded us together, he's dedicated his life to protecting our planet and fighting Robotnik, and I have a gifted hammer I use to fight with, it was given to me as a child, I'm the only one who can use it, but I did not get the pleasure of using it and rescuing you with my comrades tonight because I was detained on cleaning duty as tribute for our oppressor's relatives staying in Aero—but do not worry, I will make up for it by caring for you now, Sir Knuckles-"

"Sugah," Bunnie finally blurted, "That's not Knuckles. This is Rotor."

Sonic and Tails stared in silence. Bunnie had even said Rotor's name.

Amy Rose's eyes widened in confusion from where she remained bowed. Her ears cocked forward. "Not…wha…?"  
"We found Rotor in the sewers," Bunnie said.

"Knuckles is an echidna," Tails added, eyebrow still raised. "Not a walrus."

"We didn't find Knux," Sonic said, his voice clipped.

Amy Rose stood frozen in her bow, biting her lip, her eyes locked on Rotor. Her cheeks began to burn red.

Rotor cleared his throat, smiling. "It's…nice…to meet you, Amy Rose. You sound like a lucky girl with someone like Sonic waiting for you."

Amy Rose's face lit up. She straightened, clasped her hands and squealed. "I know!" She spun around, snatched Sonic around the neck and practically jumped up into his arms. "I," she said with a sigh. "am the luckiest girl in the whole world."

Sonic sat down in his chair with a thud, forcing a grin at Rotor. Amy Rose hugged Sonic harder, scooted onto his lap, and tossed her bobbed pink quills.

" _…_ You all are pretty lucky," Rotor said.

Amy Rose kissed Sonic on the cheek.

Bunnie cleared her throat, glancing away. She leaned forward against the palm of her hand, a smile gracing her face, "Now, Rotor, yer free, so what would ya like to do when yer all better? Do you have any family left? Anywhere you wahnt to go?"

Rotor stared. "I…I don't know…I don't have any family…I came from Arktica, looking for a job…and…" he sighed. "It was all so long ago…" He looked around the room, "I just can't believe this…Have…have you all…did you?"

"As much as we could, honey," Bunnie said, gesturing to the cavern. "We've been workin' on it ever since we found this place—that was about four years ago, if I remember correctly. It started out as our club house. You know, just a place where we could get away and start a ruckus and train with Commander Sparks."

Bunnie caught herself, glancing at Sonic in concern.

Sonic's gaze was unreadable. If he had heard the reference, he'd paid no attention to it. He was too busy looking down at Amy Rose as she stroked his arm.

Bunnie went on. "But back then, Robotnik hadn't made this fake contract with the queen, and he was still raiding Old Mobian villages. Sonic was training how to fight and the rest of us kinda got pulled in one way or another."

Rotor stared at them in silence. "And you are… _how_ old?"

Sonic, Amy Rose, and Tail looked up. The four young rebels glanced at each other.

Sonic pulled his arms free from Amy and pushed then behind his neck, leaning back in his chair. "Why you wanna know?"

Rotor shrugged a little. "You…you all don't look like adults."

"I'm fifteen," Sonic smirked.

"I'm fifteen as well, and Tails is twelve," Bunnie said.

"I'm fourteen," Amy Rose said, her eyes wide.

Rotor stared.

"-Hey, someone has to do it," Sonic said, waving a hand.

The others remained silent, but agreement echoed in their eyes. Each one of them had been touched by Robotnik's cruelty, at one time or another. They'd just taken the resources they'd had, and put them to use.

"We think Crème is almost eleven," Bunnie said. "But we're not for sure. She was actually one of our first rescues. Poor darlin'. We didn't know how the tunnels worked, so I stayed down here with her an' then she just never wanted to leave. She loves takin' care of this place an' she's safe here. She's workin' on the cave garden back there by the water fountain."

"You—you leave her here all by herself? All alone in a big cave like this?" Rotor looked concerned.

At that moment Crème walked back down the hallway, carrying a tray with a steaming teapot and china dishes. "Oh no, I sleep with Miss Amy at the boarding school at night. In the daytime, I like to stay down here, and take care of the place—just like Mama taught me to." For a moment, Crème frowned, wrinkles lining her smooth brow. "…Someday, when Mama comes back, I'm going to show her our Underground, and I know she'll be very proud of me. It's very important that there's a safe place for people to come back home to."

She put the tray down on the table and distributed china cups around the table. Then she hefted up the teapot, which looked a little cracked and scraped, but clean. She poured tea into everyone's cup. Once she had finished, Crème put two china canisters on the table. "Here is the honey and cream if anyone wants some, ahem, Mr. Sonic. I'll be right back with some medicinal tea for you, Mr. Rotor!" Crème said, then darted back down the hall, tray in hand.

Bunnie waited until Crème was out of earshot. She leaned out of her seat. "…When we found the poor thing, she was hidin' under the wing of one of Robotnik's sneak jets…We'd gotten to her village a little too late that tahme. She knows her family—well, they aren't in any living condition, that's for certain." Bunnie sighed and glanced to the floor. "But she always talks 'bout them like they're jus' gone for a lil' while. I've talked to her about it before, an' Ah think she really does know deep down, but she's in some sort of denial or somethin'…"

Amy Rose watched Bunnie, her eyes wide.

Sonic reached past Amy Rose and snatched up the cream and honey. He poured half of each into his cup, then passed them to Tails. Sonic stirred the tea with a spoon impatiently. "She keeps a good face on it though," he said.

Rotor lowered his gaze. He glanced after Crème sadly. "At least…. she has a chance…in a place like this. Back…back there…you try to keep on a good face at first, but after awhile it doesn't matter anymore…"

No one spoke.

Sonic pinched his lips. Amy Rose and Tails bowed their heads.

Crème came back into the room with a steaming tea cup in one hand. It was filled with dark medicinal tea. With the other hand she carried a picnic basket. "Here, Mr. Rotor! Are they talking to you too much? You can't talk anymore until you're feeling better." She put the tea cup into Rotor's hand. Then she turned to the table. "And here you are, Mr. Sonic!" She opened the picnic basket to reveal pots of chili and hot dogs.

The smell flooded the room and Sonic sat up straight on his stool.

For a little while, life was officially okay again.

Author's Note:

Entrance, Amy Rose and Crème! As you've probably already guessed, Crème is the Retelling version of Cream. I changed her name to fit the story world and feel a little better. As for Amy Rose, I think I rewrote this scene maybe...I don't know, six times? I finally found the Retelling version of her, but I have no idea if she's anything like canon Amy Rose. XD If Amy Rose or Crème are some of your favorite characters, tell me the things you like most about them in the reviews! I might just try to integrate them so long as it compliments the Retelling.

Thanks for reading! I've been working on some artwork of these characters for Pinterest...I'll share the link when they're finished.

~Constance


	12. Game's Up

They had turned the electric lights off. Only the soft glow from the neon lights and candles lit the room. Bunnie stacked dirty dishes on the end of the table while Crème and Amy Rose helped Rotor to their "guest ledge bed." Tails lay with his head on the table and Sonic chewed on the prong of his fork.

Bunnie waited until Crème and Amy Rose were out of earshot. She leaned over the table and looked up at them from beneath her purple eyelids and dark eyelashes. "All right, boys…what happened out there? You two have been downright distracted."

Sonic stopped chewing his fork so he could lick some chili he'd missed off his fingers. He glanced away, his shoulders tensing.

"It was my fault," Tails said, sitting up. His voice sounded heavy and he clutched the edge of his chair. He sighed and his forelocks fell forward as he hung his head. He had barely touched any food that night

Sonic's ears flattened back and he spun his head to look at Tails. He shoved his elbow onto the table and scooted his chair to face the fox. His voice was thick with sarcasm. "Aaaw, was it?"

Tails avoided Sonic's gaze.

"What'd I tell you about blaming yourself all the time, Tails?" Sonic snapped.

"But it _is_. I should have done a better job of scanning the room for camera bots," Tails moaned. "This time it really, really is. If I had been paying more attention, I could have gotten into Spectank and out of Spectank totally clean. No one would have even known I was there."

Bunnie stared. "Pardon me, dearies, did you just say-ya'll were _seen…_?"

Tails shook his head to himself.

"Haha," Sonic said, bitterness in his eyes. "Bunnie. We were more than seen." He leaned forward. "It was _bad_. It's never been that bad before." He jabbed a finger down on the table. "We've been seen before. We've been in tight spots in there. But this was…" he flung up both hands in a shrug and fell back against his chair. He crossed his arms, tapping his foot.

"All the combots that had footage of us escaped and we weren't wearing our gas masks," Tails said. "And…" he glanced down. "There was this _thing_."

Bunnie's eyes were round with horror. She set down her tea cup. "Oh boys. Oh mercy."

Tails slammed his fist against the table. "Mmm! I just had to get myself caught," he muttered to himself. "And then when Sonic came, I didn't see what was going on fast enough to get him away from—if I had noticed sooner, then I could have used what was left of the force shield ring to cover you and get you away from him, but I didn't notice until the ring had evaporated-"

"Tails, zip it," Sonic spat, his arms crossed tight. "Griping about it isn't going to make anything different."

Tails ears flattened, his head bowed. "I'm sorry."

Sonic tapped his fingers against the table impatiently. He looked away and fidgeted. "Look. Tails."

Tails fisted his hands against the seat. He glanced up at Sonic, forelocks falling into his blue eyes.

Sonic picked at a stain on the table cloth. "You saved my life back there, okay. Don't beat yourself up."

Tails' chest heaved. "…and you saved mine."

"Guess we're still even then." Sonic grinned.

Tails smiled.

"Well, that really enlightens me, boys, thank you for takin' the time to explain it all so clearly," Bunnie tossed her honey-blonde bangs out of her green eyes.

"Well, sorry, Bunnie, I'm not really sure what happened either," Sonic blurted, crossing his arms. "After I dropped Rotor off with you, I went back and started snooping through the sewers and I got a message from Tails. He sounded in trouble, so I broke into the location he gave me and found combots all over him. Things were going just dandy, like usual when this hedgehog showed up."

Bunnie cocked her head.

"I thought he was maybe an escaping Mobian, but he wanted to kill me, so…" Sonic shrugged.

Tails clutched the edge of the table, scooting forward. "He had Speed. And Strength! And he did this weird invisible teleportation thing. He must have been almost as strong as Knuckles! It was super weird…I shot him in the head with a bullet and it knocked him down and bled, but then he got back up and acted just fine." He shuddered. "His eyes were red."

"Was this hedgehog person with Robotnik, ya'll think?" Bunnie asked.

"He said something about that, but I can't remember," Sonic sighed.

"He said something about a "Maria." You probably couldn't hear Sonic." Tails said.

"Yeah, I knew he was talking, but I wasn't exactly listening then. Kinda hard to pay attention when you're being held off the ground by your neck." Sonic's eyes sparked with sarcasm.

Bunnie's eyes widened. "Bless mah stars…"

No one could choke Sonic.

"So…" Sonic continued, "Tails dumped acid on the weird guy, and he reacted to that, so we were able to get out…" He glanced away. "But if he's still alive, he knows who we are."

"He knew Sonic's name." Tails said. "But I don't think the hedgehog was a robot…so he wouldn't have gotten any footage of us. At first I wondered if he was mechanical, based off of how he reacted to acid, but not a bullet, but he was bleeding!…it looked like blood…." Tails paused, stiffening. "In the end it doesn't matter though. Several combots escaped. They left for no reason, soon after that black hedgehog came and I couldn't stop them." Tails said. "They have video feed of us on file."

Sonic slammed his hands onto the table. "So, that settles it. Robotnik's got footage. Our work in Robotropolis is as good as over."

"If he wants too, he could blow our cover," Tail murmured, his eyes hollow. "…Mobia would have to let him arrest us."

"Mmmhmm," Sonic nodded. "And I have ring delivery duty tomorrow."

The three sat in silence. Bunnie's eyes were huge.

"He must _never_ know about you and Amy and Sal and Crème though," Sonic said, scooting forward over the table to Bunnie. "You've gotta promise me, Bunnie—you've gotta keep fighting him if something happens, okay—he's not watching you, you still have a chance-"

Bunnie's eyes were huge. "Sonic! Sonic , you be quiet right now, sugah!" She set down her tea cup, her eyes flashing. "Don't you talk like that yet. No one is takin' you and Tails away from us without a good hard long fight-!"

A loud gasp rang through the room.

The three turned to see Amy Rose standing in the middle of the chamber. She covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.

"S-Sonic," she gasped.

Sonic's eyes widened. He leapt out of his seat and dashed to Amy Rose. He caught her hands and fisted them over his heart. "It's okay, Amy, I'm still here, see? We don't know anything for sure yet-"

"But I heard you!" she said. "You were seen—Robotnik could take you away—he—he could _kill_ you!"

Sonic winced at the word. Tails covered his face.

"Oh, I knew there was something wrong the minute you came in, but I tried to stay happy for your sake, but I can't stop myself now!" Amy Rose cried. "I wish you had never gone in there—especially without me!" She closed her eyes, tears brimming on her dark eyelashes. Her shoulders began to shake. "I—I could have crushed the combots with my hammer like usual and they wouldn't have recorded a thing—"

"Shh, shh, shh," Sonic hushed, stepping closer. "It's over, Amy. As far as what happened back there-I'm okay, so it wasn't time for me to die yet. You know we can't just let folks like Rotor stay marinating away in a sewer or holed up in some factory—or Knuckles—you know I had to go in there, and no matter what happens, I'm sure glad I did," his voice tightened and his eyes narrowed, "I was born with Speed, and we've all gotta do what we've all gotta do, Ames." He took a deep breath. "Don't you worry 'bout me, 'kay?"

She wiped her eyes and sniffed hard. "I…I will try Sonic."

And with that, she lunged forward, conked her head against Sonic's shoulder, and sobbed.

Sonic stood there, stiff as a pole, his pupils contracted.

Tails groaned, climbing to his feet. That was the last thing Sonic needed. He scuffed over to the two with tired deliberate steps and tugged on Amy's skirt. "Amy?"

Amy rounded on Tails, lurching free from Sonic and roaring in the fox's face, "What, can't you see I'm having a _moment_ here, you inconsiderate child?"

Tails winced, his ears flicking back.

Sonic took the second to scoot back to the table and sit down.

"Never mind," Tails said, his jaw set and blue eyes blazed. He tromped back to the table.

Bunnie stared at them all from beneath her dark lashes, worry lines creasing her brow. She shook her head to herself, thinking hard. "Sonic, you'll just have t' miss that ring delivahry, suga', you can't risk that."

Sonic bit his lip and tapped his foot against the leg of the table. Slowly.

Amy Rose caught her breath, her hands clasped.

"You…you could just stay down here, ya know?" Bunnie tried.

Tails and Sonic looked at each other.

Tails' eyes widened. Then he pinched his lips hard together and fisted his hands.

Sonic straightened, leaning forward. "Yeah. But."

Amy Rose's eyes widened.

Sonic bowed his head. "But—if I don't deliver those rings, Robotnik will take it out on the Queen. And Sally. And that dumb old council. Who knows, he might totally light the fuse, so to speak. Old Mobia fights with swords and canons and things—not spaceships and fighter jets and combots. They have some rings, but if it came to all out war—I mean, just the wars our parents fought against the Deks were killer deals, and the Deks didn't have any tech at all. Robotnik knows they know they can't beat him, so he fudges around with the rules all he likes." Sonic paused. "You all remember that one month when I couldn't find the thirtieth ring in time? He was ready to blow the whole Capitol to bits and tear me to a pulp while he was at it. Thankfully Sal stepped in that time, but still."

Amy Rose bit her lip.

Sonic crossed his arms over his stomach, blinking.

He'd never forget the way Sally's small, strong hands felt on his back and shoulders as she healed his whiplashes with a healing ring. Or how she'd kissed his cheek and called him Mobia's "true and faithful Ringweilder."

Sal didn't compliment him often either.

He'd better live up to her words.

"Yeah…" Sonic fisted his hands, "I tell ya, if I missed a ring delivery by even an hour, the whole truce is gone. Which would be _good_. But it'd be kind of nice if there were people around afterwards. If someone's gonna end it, it needs to be the Queen with a real army backing her up-not _him_."

Sonic knew what he had to do, and Amy knew he knew. She looked like she was about to fall over.

"Ya couldn't…warn Sally that ya'll are in a tahght spot an' can't make it?" Bunnie suggested.

Sonic glanced up. "What, tell her, 'Sorry, hun, I've gotta beat it, so looks like you and your mom'll have to take this one. You've only got the _whole Capitol_ to keep bombs off of.'"

Amy Rose's jaw began to drop.

Sonic flexed his hands. "Point is it's a gamble and it's either Mobia or just me. Guess the scales don't lie. It has to be me."

Amy Rose cracked.

She screamed. Out of nowhere, she had the piko hammer, and she smashed it down onto the table. The whole structure shook and the plates rattled.

Sonic yelped and scrambled beneath the table. Tails and Bunnie jumped back.

Amy Rose brandished the eighteen-inch diameter hammer, her green eyes burning feverishly. "Sonic, if you do anything stupid, I will never forgive you!" she screamed, "You _mus_ t stay down here—with me—and Crème and-"

"Now, um…Amy Rose, c'mon, baby!" Sonic stammered from beneath the table. "You know, there's always the chance nothing happens! Whatd'ja just promise me about not worrying-"

" _No!_ " Amy screamed. She swung the hammer into the plates, sending them crashing off the table to the floor. She closed her eyes shut tight and shouted, "Sonic! I love you with all my heart and I will always worry about you! Every hour of every day I worry about you! If you die—it will affect more people than just you—don't you know that? It's never _just you!_ _Why do you have to be so brave and stupid and play the hero all the time_ , what even! Its like you're _trying_ to die sometimes!" She gasped and opened her eyes, the fever dying. "The only reason I am here fighting is because I know you need me…I'm never going to leave you…I'm never going to stop loving you."

She let the hammer drum hit the floor. She hung her head.

No one moved.

"You must stay here with me," she growled out, lifting her seething green eyes.

Tails and Bunnie glanced at each other.

Sonic's voice came from somewhere under the table. "…Nope."

Amy screeched, hammer upraised again. "You! Sonic! You!" She swung the hammer at the table and pointed it down at the lump beneath the tablecloth. "You asked for it, Sonic! I will protect you if no one else will, and if I can't and if you're going down, then so am I!"

And with that, she spun on her heel, still brandishing the hammer, and charged from the room, her skirts flying behind her.

Everyone held their breath for at least five seconds.

The tablecloth moved and Sonic poked his head out, his green eyes wide.

"Sonic…are… you goin' after her?" Bunnie almost whispered.

Sonic blinked. He crawled out from the table and back onto his seat. He gathered his breath, his eyes dazed. "Are you kiddin' me?"

They held their breaths.

Sonic began to sag in his seat. "Ah, besides, that's just Amy. She'll get over it." He forced a laugh. "She doesn't know how to stay away from me."

Bunnie blushed.

Sonic let out a long sigh and mumbled to himself. "That girl's gonna be the death of me. Who needs Robotnik around?"

"Sa'nic, honey," Bunnie ventured. "You…are gonna go in tomorrow then?"

Sonic hesitated, then nodded. "Yep. Only one way out, and that's the way in."

Tails nodded firmly to himself, and bowed his head.

Sonic shrugged and waved his hand. "I'll think of something if Robotnik tries to can me. Besides, we don't even know for sure if he'll want to arrest me. He might try nothing."

Sonic suddenly stiffened. He whirled around to face Tails.

Tails lifted his gaze and their eyes met. "If you're going back, so am I."

Sonic hesitated and he glared. "No, you aren't, you-"

"If I'm not back at the hut with you tomorrow," Tails interrupted, fire blazing in his blue eyes. "People will know for sure that something is wrong. Besides, I can't miss work. That would get me double-arrested." He clenched his fists in front of him. "You've dragged me into crazy things all my life and I'm not going to stay behind now. If something does happen, I'm gonna be there, Sonic."

Sonic choked, as if stuck. He kept glaring, but a hint of relief wavered in his eyes.

Tails' eyes flickered back in triumph.

Sonic banged his fist against the table. " _Man_." He met Tail's gaze. "Fine. You be careful, okay? You be _super_ careful. And smart. Don't do anything stupid!"

Tails' eyes lit up and he almost smiled. He nodded, squaring his shoulders.

Truth was, neither he nor Sonic wanted to face the next day alone.

Once again they fell quiet. Sonic propped himself against the table with his arm and tapped his thumb against the handle of his spoon. "You know, someone's gonna have to clean up these plates…"

"Ah can handle that sugah, don't you worry, I'm staying here anyway. Sally knows I wasn't planning on going back to the palace tonight," Bunnie sighed, refilling her tea cup. "Phewwhee, what a night. All this, an' t'think that poor echidna is still out there somewhere..."

Tails' ears cocked up. He blinked.

He jumped off his seat and crouched down next to his pack. "Wait."

Sonic watched Tails, his ears pricking forward.

The fox plunged his skinny arms into the pack. He brought out his flashlight and placed it on the table. "I found this while in Spectank—it's…it's probably nothing—but, I thought…"

Sonic raised one eyebrow. "Well, no wonder the camera bot saw you if you were shining that thing around."

Tails swatted one of his tails in Sonic's face. He unscrewed the battery compartment and pulled out a long silver file wrapped in a cloth strip.

Sonic pushed the tail away, snickering and coughing on fox fur.

"It's the feed from the camera bot in the room I found," Tails said. He passed it to Bunnie. "You keep it and try to find Knux if anything goes wrong, okay? I thought I saw red on the film."

"Tails, this is _great!_ " Sonic blurted, shooting up from his seat. He gave the fox a playful cuff on the head. "See, this is why you shouldn't beat yourself up."

Tails froze. A blush crept over his cheeks and he grinned in embarrassment.

Bunnie patted Tails' hand. "Good work, foxy. Now you listen to your brother, hear? I'll take care of this." She smiled at them and brushed a curl of her blonde hair out of her eyes.

Sonic and Tails glanced at each other.

"Aw, you're a real brick, Bunnie," Sonic said. He took a deep breath.

Then he jumped up and mock-bowed. "You're making it possible for this hedgehog t'get in some beauty sleep in before walkin' Robotnik's runway tomorrow." He winked. "Thanks."

"Aw, don't mention it," a raspy giggle escaped her, but concern darkened her eyes. "And if that ol' Robotnik tries anything crazy, me and Sally are gonna be doin' a lot more than lookin' for Knuckles. You two…just take care now an' try to save us the hassle, ya hear?"


	13. Grampa Chuck

Sonic and Tails got back home at four in the morning. From the Underground, they'd taken the side tunnel that led to the downtown Capitol Aero, where lines of lean-to-like shacks squatted under trees.

It was a funny place for the one and only Ringweilder of Mobia to live, but Sonic wasn't going to live in some palace when he could be with Grampa Chuck. Also, he was a little farther away from Robotnik here.

Not that Robotnik didn't try to come to him. A guard robot with treads and a long pointed nose wheeled down the dirt street, keeping an eye on their shack. Sonic and Tails waited for him to reach the far end of his trail before scrambling to the back door.

Sonic snatched up a pebble and shot it through the end of a drain pipe sticking out just above the back door. The two boys listened with their ears cocked as the pebble bounced into the shack, hopefully where Grampa Chuck would see it.

In a few seconds, the door unlocked and opened. Grampa Chuck stood in the doorway, undressed for bed. Of course, he'd been waiting all night. He was a good looking hedgehog, though not because he was physically fit. His fur had aged to a light gray blue over the years, and his mustache had turned white. His spikes hung limp and ragged from his head and back. But his hazel eyes still pulsed with warmth and vitality, and this one feature outshone the others.

His eyes lit up at the sight of his grandson and Tails. A warm smile spread over his worn face, and then, just as quickly, the smile disappeared.

"Hey, Gramps," Sonic whispered, his voice thick and scratched.

"You boys look awful," Grampa Chuck said, sadness filling his eyes.

He was right. Sonic's shoulders slumped with weariness, and exhaustion shone in his eyes. Tails leaned against Sonic, already half dozing. They were bruised and dirty and the uncertainty about what would happen to them the next morning had done nothing to help their morale.

Sonic pushed inside and Tails stumbled after him. The fox's twin tails dragged on the floor.

Grampa Chuck shut the door, and followed them into the back room of their shack, where they slept. The front part of the shack was the makeshift grounds of operation for Grampa Chuck's fast food business. The back room was cramped and almost empty, except for Grampa Chuck's bed and two hammocks for Sonic and Tails. They'd moved most of their belongings to the Underground, where they would be safe.

"I was trying not to worry," Grampa Chuck admitted, clasping his hands and looking away. "You know you have ring delivery in three hours, don't you? You two didn't get into any trouble?"

Sonic paused, his back to Grampa Chuck. His brain eked out a cynical _heh-heh_ in his sleep-deprived state. Thankfully he didn't voice it.

The hedgehog turned around, rolled his shoulders, and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, well…we made it back." He flashed a forced grin.

Questions blared in Grampa Chuck's eyes. He never knew the details of what they did. Of course, it was probably illegal, but he had no choice but to trust them. ….Sonic _was_ the Ringweilder. He'd been born to guard their planet and people.

But at the end of the day, Sonic was still his grandson. And the last member of his family still living.

"You…got what you were looking for?" Grampa Chuck asked.

"Nope." Anger sparked in Sonic's eyes. "Don't worry about it though, we're still on it."

A wry frown spread over Grampa Chuck's face then. It has gone very badly then.

"Goodnight, Grampa Chuck," Tails murmured, almost tripping over his feet. He had already taken off his cargo pants and shoes for bed.

Grampa Chuck caught Tails' shoulder and squeezed it. "Goodnight to you too, Tails."

Tails smiled up at him, his large blue eyes shining. There was always a hint of pain in his smiles, but this time it burned stronger. Chuck's stomach turned. His boys were not okay. He wished he could scoop up Tails and somehow hug him long enough to burn all the pain out of him.

But at least Tails recognized his own pain. The fox was so transparent that, one way or another, Chuck could get him to open up and talk about it. Chuck could remember back when he had finally taken the boys to his little house, back after they had escaped out of New Mobius. The new tech-city had just fallen, and Robotnik had taken all the children as hostages, incentives for their parents to become roboticized. According to Tails, his parents had been roboticized before the attack. Chuck remembered one night when it was just Tails and him, soon after he arrived at the shack. Tails told him, through his sobs, all about his time as a hostage and about seeing Robotnik reveal his parents to the world on television as the first roboticized Mobians. In vivid detail he described his parent's dead eyes and their long metal claws and their machine-replicated voices.

Grampa Chuck sighed. He ran a hand over Tail's forehead, brushing his fingers through his forelocks. "Now, you better get some rest. There's leftover pizza in the morning."

Tails smiled and crawled into the lower hammock. He coiled one tail over his body like a blanket and the other he tucked under his head.

Grampa Chuck turned to face his grandson,

 _Sonic_ , on the other head, never slowed down enough to let himself hurt over anything, let alone talk about it. Grampa Chuck frowned. Sonic had finally broken down and cried after Sparks had left them, but he'd never talked to Chuck about his own time as a hostage, or his mother's murder, or his lost father and two little brothers.

Perhaps he was afraid of the things that would start to speak inside his heart if he took the time to listen.

Grampa Chuck sighed and walked over to a flickering electro lamp hanging from the ceiling. He began to turn it down. "You need a ring, Sawni." His tone was kind, but firm. "Does that bruise on your neck hurt? I don't want to think about what you two have been up to…"

Sonic shivered as he unzipped his leather tunic front, making a face. He just wanted to go to bed so he could get tomorrow over with.

"I'll get one in the morning, or else I'll never get to sleep, don't worry about it," Sonic's voice was almost a mumble. "We had a good time, we're both fine, just—we'll just…" Sonic began unbuckling the belts that wound up the waist of his leather tunic. He unloosed the leather wraps around his calves, letting them slip into a pile at his ankles. "….we'll just have to see how things go these next couple days, but don't worry about it." He kicked his sneakers off as he worked on the wraps around his arms and white gloves.

Grampa Chuck turned off the light completely. Sonic slid his tunic off his shoulders and rolled his head back on his neck. Pain streaked through his throat, but he ignored it. He sucked in a deep breath.

Even in the dark, Grampa Chuck could see the raw bruises stretching across his neck.

Grampa Chuck circled an arm around Sonic's back. He pulled his grandson into a hug.

Sonic stiffened, hesitating. His eyes widened.

Fear bolted through his mind.

His resolve wavered.

He flung his arms around Grampa Chuck, and held on hard. His arms locked and his muscles burned. He felt Grampa Chucks hands run over his head spikes, pressing against his scalp. He pushed his face harder into his Grampa's shoulder.

If Robotnik _did_ know he'd broken into Robotropolis and he was arrested, what would Grampa Chuck do? It was Sonic's job to keep things up and running. Gramps was getting up there in years, and business wasn't easy now, thanks to politics. He had to take the filled meal orders to Grampa Chuck's customers, and pick up ingredients, and Gramps was always asking him to dig up something in the garden…Grampa Chuck couldn't handle all that on his own.

Plus, he was the last piece of family Grampa Chuck had. It wouldn't be fair.

Sometimes, Sonic actually wished he didn't have to fight. He could be like everyone else. He could just stay home and be a good little boy and watch Robotnik stomp all over the planet.

But no, he had Speed, he couldn't just let things happen, and too much had happened already.

It still wasn't fair though…that he had to keep on doing the right thing, whether it did any good or not. And just so he could get cut down for it over and over again.


	14. Fated Tomorrow

In the darkness of the night, Mobia waited.

Inside a rundown shack in downtown Aero, Mobia's young Ringweilder and a mutate fox slept fitfully, curled up in their hammocks inside. Waiting for the morning light, and whatever fate awaited them.

High on the cliff face overshadowing the city, inside the palace of Capital Aero, an auburn-haired princess lay awake in her chambers, her face buried against her cushions. Her mind whirred, scheming, like it had nights after nights before this one. Waiting for the day her father would come back and save their kingdom.

In the high-end residency street of Capitol Aero, inside Aero's Elite Tutelage Home for Girls, a small pink hedgehog stepped into the cellar from a tunnel behind the pantry. She began to climb the stairs to the sleeping hall and her room, her hammer still clenched in her hands. The rest of the night she would spend packing all her things and waiting. Waiting for the moment to rescue the only hero she had ever loved.

Far from the capitol, deep down in the Underground caverns beneath the forest of Old Mobia, a cyborg rabbit cleared plates from the floor. Farther down the room, a little girl's voice echoed through the cavern as she sang her patient to sleep on a heated ledge. The cyborg finished her work, took her communicator and called the princess while she waited. Waited for some hope that would save her comrades and country.

Across the horizon, in the depths of Robotropolis, a black hedgehog and white bat took their seats inside a small hover plane. With the thrum of the blue jet rays, the hover plane rose and left Robotropolis. To the forest, waiting. Waiting for any sign of their victims' trails.

And in the edge of this forest, a large shadow watched as well, ready to kill if the need arose—ready to kill if they tried to take him back and if they again tried to hurt the treasure he lived to protect. Waiting for the morning light to come, when he would have to crawl back into hiding once again.

 **Author's Note:**

Aaaand, this ends Part 1 of this episode. I will keep all the parts in this same document, though, so stay tuned for Part 2. ;-)

~Connie


	15. Sonic's Escort

A metal hand slammed hard against the front door of the shack. The hut shook.

Sonic's tail perked up from where he lay in a ball-shaped heap on the top of his hammock. His ears flattened and he winced, pulling his head out of his ball. Pain raked down his throat.

He realized what day it was and what he had to do.

For a sickening moment, he didn't think he could do it. He wanted to go back to sleep. Or die.

Sonic opened his green eyes. He took a deep breath, uncurled, and jumped down from the hammock.

A second knock started at the back door. "Open up, rodents!" called an automated voice.

Sonic paused in a mid-crouch on the floor, glaring at the back door.

Tails groaned from the bottom hammock, still buried under his tails, his eyes closed. "I'll get the back door." he mumbled.

Sonic stared at his brother for a second, eyes bright.

This was a bad day to be separated.

The pounding on the front door slammed harder.

Sonic stood up and marched through their front room and kitchen, his jaw set and fists clenched. He flung the door open, the whole thing nearly falling off its hinges. Morning light streaked into the room. Sonic crossed his arms and stood feet apart, facing his escort—a robot.

The robot was one of Eggman's, not Robotnik's. Designed for _creativity's_ sake. The word "scratch" ran down its thick torso and metal sheets shot in and out of its arms as if they were feathers. It had a hose-like, flexible neck, with a bird-shaped head perched on the end of it. Its eyes looked like dead bolts set in red sockets.

Sonic's muscles bunched up and his ears flicked forward, waiting for any sign of upcoming arrest.

"Morning, hedgehog," the robot before him snaked its head down to Sonic's level. "Today's another special day!" His mouth didn't actually move. The words came from a speaker in his chest.

Sonic rocked his weight onto one heel and lifted his chin. "Aw, someone having a birthday?"

The robot's hand shot up, snatching onto Sonic's jaw and swollen neck.

Sonic gasped, grunting in pain.

Scratch rattled him, his fingers pinching and biting into Sonic's neck. "Now, rodent, we're not going to play games today. We're going to go to Doctor Ivo Nikolos, your benevolent master."

Sonic's eyes burned. He had to resist every urge not to kick the robot's arm off and rip the hand away.

But he'd learned over the past three years. If he didn't take it now, someone else would later. He was just waiting for the day when he could turn Scratch into a can opener.

He waved a hand and shrugged the best he could. "Sure, man, no biggie, just fooling around," he gritted out.

"Now you're not going to _talk_ ," Scratch thrust Sonic back, releasing him.

Sonic caught himself before he fell, clenching his teeth.

"You have ten minutes to get ready, and you better have all thirty rings," Scratch said.

Sonic glared, but turned to obey, tossing his head.

He passed Tails on the way back to the bedroom, the fox rushing to appease his own robot at the back door. Grounder—a hulking thing with treads and a long nose, who took Tails to work every day. The two Mobians exchanged glances as they passed, Tails' eyes burning.

 _Here went nothing._

Sonic smirked at him.

"Where's the geezer?" Scratch crawed from the other room. "I could use a polish."

Wow, thank you so much for the follows and favorites and reviews! :-D Getting those made my week! :-) I'll try to upload a little more consistently now. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

~Connie


	16. Keep Your Chin Up

Sonic yanked on his tunic—strung the tribute rings onto his belts and strapped them around his middle—tied leather thongs around his arms and legs—stuffed leftover pizza in his mouth—used an emergency healing ring to hide the bruising on his neck—and all before Scratch called time was up.

Then the hedgehog held still, glowering at the ceiling as Scratch cuffed his wrists behind his back. Scratch shackled a loose chain around his ankles and wound one more running chain around his waist. Scratch pulled it taut, locking Sonic's arms tight behind him.

Sonic clenched his jaw, glaring out of the corner of his eye.

He squared his shoulders, facing the doorway.

"March," Scratch barked, taking the end of the running chain in one hand.

"After you," Sonic grinned with a bow.

They stepped out of the hut, pushing through a line of Grampa Chuck's waiting customers.

"Bye, Soni!" Grampa Chuck called, hurrying to the doorway. He forced a smile, his eyes dark with concern. He nodded at the nearest customer, a white rat. "It's that time again already."

Sonic met the customers' sobered gazes and laughed. "You lot aren't keeping me busy enough, that's the real problem here!

"Back for the pizza special, eh master Joseph? Ya know, I keep telling you to take back an extra for the kids—maybe if you start bringing them out here, Gramps can arrange something for them on the house, huh, Gramps?

"Mrs. Jewyll, glad to see you out here again! Last I heard, you were laid up with a kink in your back. Bet you came all the way up here to see your favorite hedgehog off, right? Man, if I could reach you, I'd give you a smacker for that! Stick around and I'll give it you when I get back!

"Hey, squirt, your family okay? You guys are probably starving over there, times are crazy right now. Glad you dropped by, you can come by for leftovers anytime, remember? Keep your chin up, kid!"

The Mobians waiting in line began to smile, their large eyes bright. Several laughed and shouted back responses, others waved and whistled. Grampa Chuck crossed his arms over his chest, tears shining in his eyes.

From inside the hut, Tails scrambled next to Grandpa Chuck. "Bye, Sonic!" Tails shouted. A little too loudly. His voice cracked and he fisted his shaking hands hard.

Sonic shot a glance over his shoulder, his green eyes sharp. Their gazes met.

"I'll be back soon, Tails!" Sonic shouted back

Tails thrust his fist over his head in answer. He blinked twice, gathering his breath.

No one else noticed. Not Grampa Chuck, not the customers still grinning after their young hero. Talking about how plucky Sonic was. How he'd helped them out of tight spots. How thankful Grampa Chuck should be to have such a capable grandson on hand—of all things, the Ringweilder of Mobia passing by them every day in their dingy downtown! How brave Sonic was to go through the street trussed up like that every month and come face to face with Robotnik.

Tails slowly lowered his fist and bowed his head.

They did not know half of it.


	17. Hammer Ambush

Sonic strode through the streets of Capitol Aero, the chains on his ankles dragging across the paneled stone streets.

Capitol Aero didn't look too bad for practically being under robot occupation. Dappled sunlight filtered down through the stained-glass arches and the summer leaves of the ancient trees covering the city. The light cast jewel-toned rainbows across the streets, mirroring the shades of its Mobian inhabitants. Smoke from gem fires filled the air, and the place smelled rich and sweet. A close watcher wouldn't have noticed just how afraid everyone was.

The city still felt regal enough, with its ornate treehouses, ground houses, and burrow houses. The Mobian people still dressed in the flowing gowns, drapes, and tunics of Old Mobia. But they walked in silence. Robots of every shape and size stalked or hovered through the streets, hissing and buzzing as they went. Dwellings were boarded up. Television screens fixed onto trees blared roboticization advertisements from Robotropolis.

Anger burned in Sonic's eyes and he smirked as he walked, shouting out to the Mobians as he passed. The old beggar at the corner, who always cracked some corny joke to him as he went by. The shut up invalid in the second story of the pavilioned townhouse, who dared to come to her window just to see him wink at her. The market peddler who eyed him with suspicion and went pale as Sonic informed him his wares would "never sell at that price in today's economy."

Several kids started following close behind him, staring at the chains around his arms and ankles.

"Are you a criminal?" One bold one asked, a Mobian weasel boy with a long neck and bright eyes.

Sonic smirked.

He knew better than to think that Robotnik would not see him unless he was tied up because the human was somehow afraid of him. Robotnik just liked knowing he could have Sonic tied up if he wanted.

The hedgehog chuckled at them. "Yep."

The kids gasped.

"What'd you do?" the weasel asked.

"I beat up some robots," Sonic sniggered.

The kids' eyes widened in shock. No one could beat up robots.

Scratch tugged hard on the chain. "I told you not to talk, rodent."

"Life's too short to clam up," Sonic replied, jerking forward. He glanced over his shoulder at the kids. "You remember that, kids. Don't let anyone tell you to stop asking good questions! First way anyone learns anything, according to my Uncle Sparks. He fought in space you know. In the stars."

The kids' eyes lit up in shock. One little girl's jaw dropped.

Scratch made a hissing sound and his gears clicked.

Sonic shut his mouth. He'd memorized Scratch's tolerance patterns and Scratch had gotten used to Sonic's shouting. The robot could only take so much though before someone nearby got hurt.

"Howie, get away from the Ringweilder! Children, stay back!" a tall Mobian weasel woman swept in as in from nowhere, thrusting a staff between Sonic and the kids.

She must have understood Scratch's patterns as well. She shot nervous glances at Sonic and Scratch, her eyes wide. She and Sonic exchanged looks and for a moment, something shot across her face. Fear, pity, pleading.

Sonic blinked.

She turned and hurried away, dragging the kids after her.

Sonic dropped his gaze to the ground, his face set.

They shouldn't have to be afraid. He loved these people.

They had to get free. They had to get free just because this whole puppet act was stinking wrong. Because those kids needed to grow up on a free planet. A free _Mobian_ planet.

He didn't care what happened today.

He'd never stop fighting.

He'd shouted it in Robotnik's face back in that factory, back when he was just a wet-behind-ears eight-year-old chained to a power gear—no older than that kid back there—he'd known what he'd meant when he'd said it, and, boy, had he meant it—

" _You won't have my Sonnikku!_ "

Amy Rose's voice pierced through his subconscious.

Sonic whipped about, his eyes wide.

They had made it to a narrow, walled street and Amy Rose charged across it towards him, hammer clasped in both of her hands.

Screaming with all her might. Sashes and skirts billowing behind her. Green eyes flashing destruction.

Scratch turned his head just in time to see Amy Rose reach Sonic and heave the hammer straight into the base of his neck.

The robot's entire chest caved in and he flew back against the wall. His hose-like neck lopped onto its side, reverberating against the stone.

Sonic stood in frozen shock, his eyes wide.

Amy Rose swung the hammer back, gasping for breath. She looked at Scratch once, then with a twist of her hand, the hammer vanished.

There was a moment of silence. The few people still on the street froze. Some ran. Most started to walk away as fast as they dared, scanning the streets and skies for any sign of watching robots.

Amy Rose spun to Sonic and squealed, her eyes closed. "Sonic!"

"Amy Rose!" Sonic blurted, lurching forward. "What do you think-"

She opened her eyes. "I came here to rescue you."

She flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Hard.

Sonic's eyes went huge and he staggered back against the ally wall.

His senses heightened and blurred all at once. Heat surged through his body.

She let go, and Sonic caught his breath. His green eyes burned, sharp and focused. "Woah, Ames-"

"Sonic," Amy Rose said. "I just heard last night. The Mobian council is going to give you to Robotnik. I've left the school forever. I'm running away with you."

"Okay," Sonic said.

 _Boy had her kisses gotten better._

He blinked and his eyes narrowed. "Wait—what?"

"I'm running away with you, Sonic." Amy Rose repeated, pleading creeping into her tone. "But hurry, or it will be too late!—I'll cut through your chains, and you pick me up and run with me-!"

"-And the council is gonna what?" Sonic interrupted.

"Sonic!" Amy Rose jumped into his face, screaming.

She settled back, smiling, and whipped a laser knife from her pocket. "Hold still! I'll cut you free!"

For the first time, Sonic finally got what was going on, and for a few seconds, he decided he wanted to be free. He'd get out and run until his legs burned out. He could scram…

And let Robotnik drop bombs on people. People like Gramps and Sally and those kids and Gramps' customers.

He'd already decided his move last night.

Sonic jolted back from Amy Rose, catching his breath.

Amy Rose gasped. Her jaw dropped.

"Sonic?" her eyes widened in shock. "No—no, no—"

"I can't," Sonic blurted. "Sorry, Ames! Get back to school-get out of here-!" he glared hard, meeting her gaze head on. "I have to get these rings to Robotnik before I go anywhere, I've got to stay here or who knows what he'll do-!"

The hammer hit him in the chest, accompanied by Amy Rose's scream of rage.

He fell back down to the ground.

" _I can't believe you, you stupid hedgehog, I can't believe you, I did all this to rescue you, and this is how you repay me-!_ "

As Sonic hit the ground, Scratch's robotic arm snatched out grabbed him. Sonic glanced over his shoulder, his eyes wide.

The robot's neck had popped back into its socket. Scratch's slit-eyes narrowed on Amy Rose and he raised his fisted arm, his "wings" folding in on themselves to create a long-distance dart gun.

Amy pounded the hammer against the ground, her head and shoulders bent, sobbing.

"Run, Amy!" Sonic shouted.

Amy lifted her head. Her eyes went round and she gasped.

Sonic coughed. "- _Book it, Ames!_ "

Scratch shot.

Amy Rose screamed, jumping in midair and swinging the hammer like a bat. The dart struck the hammer head and exploded on impact, throwing the girl back.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted, lurching forward against the running chain.

Scratch's hand caught ahold of the chain, stopping him.

Sonic growled in anger and dropped to a crouch, straining against the chain. He gasped, breathing hard. All he had to do was put on his speed and he could drag that robot behind him through the whole city-

The smoke from the explosion cleared. Amy Rose was nowhere in sight.

Sonic stopped fighting, his eyes wide. He fisted both hands against the ground—and grinned.

From behind him, Scratch held an intercom to his speaker. "I have a target to detain-pink Mobian hedgehog, female, young teenager, wearing a red dress, looks like the uniform from the Aero's Elite Tutelage Home for Girls. Name is Amy Rose. She is to be arrested for attacking the Ringweilder's official escort and conspiring with the blue hedgehog."

Sonic swallowed hard, anger boiling over him, his ears flicking back.

The way things were going, he and the others would be lucky if any of them made it out alive today.

Scratch pushed his intercom back into the slot in his waist. He walked over to Sonic.

Sonic's shoulders cringed in anticipation. Scratch's arm shot against the back of his head.

Sonic fell forward, gritting his teeth.

Scratch stared down at his prisoner, his eyes contracting.

"Sorry for the interruption," Sonic quipped, daring to raise his face. He gave Scratch a bitter smirk. "I'm ready when you are."


	18. Outside the Audience Hall

Candlelight flickered inside the hall outside the palace audience room. Shafts of morning sunlight streaked through high window slits in the ceiling and fell on the still form of Sally, turning her auburn hair to spun fire.

She stood next to the double doors leading into the audience room, her blue eyes glazed over in thought, dim and distant. Like they had been ever since she first took her place there an hour ago.

Her entourage stood at attention behind her. Though they kept their faces blank, concern shown in their eyes, and every few minutes they glanced at her back.

Sally clenched her fists against the skirt of her gown, her knuckles locked.

The door at the end of the hall began to open.

Sally's eyes flickered and her ears cocked forward.

Sonic strode in, the chains on his ankles dragging across the marble floor. He bent his head, kicking the loose end of his chain over the threshold. His escort, Scratch, clanked in behind him.

The hedgehog took one glance at Sally across the room, a sharp hunted look lingering in his eyes. He forced a smirk, a shudder running through his body.

They began to walk down the hall and Sally straightened, gathering her breath. When Sonic had walked halfway down the hall, she nodded her head to him in a bow.

"Hey, Sal, you gonna see Robotnik too?" Sonic blurted.

Sally jerked her head up from the bow, frowning at him in surprise.

"'Cause you look sick," Sonic commented. A smirk hid in one corner of his mouth.

Sally's jaw dropped. She snapped it shut, her blue eyes flashing.

It was too late though. His words blasted through the fear that had gnawed at her all night and her shoulders slumped. She was just glad he was there.

Bunnie had told her everything. It took nerve to joke at a time like this.

But she still scowled at him. "Greetings, _Ringweilder_ , and, no, you know very well that I am here to oversee the tribute exchange, as always. The queen mother will be here shortly."

That random lock of hair fell out of her circlet into her face again. She brushed it back in annoyance.

"Aw, sure—or maybe you were just _lonely_." Sonic paused and pushed his weight onto one leg, his eyes bright with mischief.

Sally raised one eyebrow with a silent _hmph_.

"Move," Scratch nudged Sonic's shoulder, but Sonic shook him off.

"Yeesh, can I have a minute, man? I'm talking to Sal," he snapped.

Sally pinched her lips for a second, still glaring. She whipped her head to face the robot. "You still have five minutes to spare and you cannot proceed before the queen arrives." she informed, "Let him talk."

Scratch locked his arms at his side in obedience.

Sally arched her eyebrows and smiled. At least _robots_ respected her.

"See, Scratch, she can't help talking to me," Sonic smirked.

"Flatter yourself." Sally retorted dryly, her eyes snapping. She took a deep breath, wrinkling her nose and clasping her hands before her. She closed her eyes. "How are you?" She asked in her most princess-like, formality-only tone. As if she didn't really care at all.

 _Someday_ he would get the picture that even though, off stage, they may be secretly criminals fighting for the planet together, she was still a princess, and not his playmate.

"As well as can be expected," Sonic shrugged. For the first time, a glimmer of tension emerged in his eyes. "Looking forward to getting my hands back." He snorted and flexed his hands from where they were cuffed behind him.

Sally narrowed her eyes and parted her lips.

She caught her breath and nodded to him. "I…I hear you may need to go out of town to find some food for Grampa Chuck's business…this economic crisis must be addressed at once and my mother is doing what she can, but…if you need short term reserves, I am sure I could help somehow…" she dropped her gaze. "Do you… _need assistance, Sonic?_ "

Sonic frowned, and glanced away. He rolled his shoulders. "Aw, well…I'm not sure yet…especially about the travelling, I mean packing is a big deal—and I don't know if Gramps is up to something like that." His voice caught. "But, ya know Sal, I talked to Amy Rose on the way and she's having a real hard time at school, and she may need to leave, so if you've got some extra food lying around here, she could use it."

Sally's eyes flickered, but otherwise her face was expressionless. "I will see to it. Thank you."

"Yeah, and…" Sonic pushed forward a little. "She also told me something about the Mobia People's Council handing me over to Major Metal head in there…" He laughed, dread wavering in his eyes. "Some crazy rumor? Anything going on there?"

Sally's eyes widened. She froze.

They stared at each other.

 _I'm sorry_ , her eyes pleaded.

Sonic did not move. He swallowed.

Sally opened her mouth, but closed it again. She glanced away, trying to gather her words—

A door to the upper balcony over the audience hall opened.

Sally suppressed a sigh, pinching her lips together.

Too late.

Queen Alicia stepped through the door, draping a sapphire-embedded shawl around her bare arms. "Sally, you are here already—"

Sonic dropped at once to one knee and bowed his head, bound and all. "Your majesty."

Queen Alicia stopped, surprised at Sonic's presence. She folded her hands and nodded to Sonic. "Sonic, Ringweilder. I trust you are well." She began to walk down a small flight of stairs, her own entourage beginning to file out behind her.

Sonic raised his head, jaw tight and eyes bright. "Your majesty, Tails an' I would be a lot better off if we weren't the Doctor's slaves—the whole planet would be better off if he couldn't so much as stick his big metal toe in here—Majesty, if you please, the people of Mobia can't keep living like this. Can you talk to the People's Council, ask them to think about all this, get them to—"

Scratch's metal wing shot out, smashing Sonic across the side of the head. Sonic hissed in pain, and he cocked his head against his shoulder.

Queen Alicia caught her breath, freezing at the bottom of the stair. "Please, none of that here."

"All Hail The Doctor Ivo Nikolos," Scratch said.

Sonic forced a smirk, head still cocked. "If you could do that, your Majesty."

Sally stared at Sonic, her jaw set.

Pity graced Queen Alicia's face. "Sonic….you are a very persistent hedgehog. I commend you for this. You never fail, when you come here, to share your concerns with me. However, you should know that the last time the People's Council met, they unanimously declared their decision to support The Doctor's presence here."

Sonic's eyes seemed to flare. "Did they, huh?"

"They did."

Sonic shot Sally a look. They both knew how Robotnik pressured the People's Council.

The princess kept her head bowed.

"They also agreed that you should maintain your current relationship with the Doctor. It has secured some peace for Mobia, and for that we thank you." Queen Alicia said.

Sonic locked his gaze hard on the queen, leaning forward. "I don't care, just so long as he doesn't have to be _here_ , telling you what to do, and—and telling Mobia what to do, he's making slaves of all of us—with all respect, Your highness we're going down one way or another and if we're not going to go down fighting—"

Scratch's wing swung down again into the side of Sonic's face. Sonic cut his words short, gritting his teeth. He ground out as fast as he could, still facing the queen with burning eyes. "Please, I don't know how much time I've got left here, but if you won't listen to me—listen for your people and Sal and those kids chained up in the Robotropolis factories-for those people goin' to that Roboticizer today because we haven't stopped him yet-"

Scratch looked ready to strike again, but Queen Alicia raised her hand. "It is time for the tribute to be presented."

Scratch gripped Sonic's arms and yanked him up to his feet.

Sonic's gaze searched the Queen's face, desperate.

Sally stared at him, her eyes shining in pain.

Scratch gave Sonic a shove in the back with his foot-claw, thrusting him towards Robotnik's audience room.

Queen Alicia began to walk towards the doors. She did not look at the hedgehog.

Sonic took his place, kicked at the chain around his ankles and bowed his head.

Sally lurched forward from where she stood. She stepped behind Sonic and latched her hand onto his shoulder, squeezing as hard as she could. Her blue eyes burned.

He was the bravest idiot that ever lived and she was going to do all she could to make sure he lived to fight for them all.

Sonic raised his head at her touch, his jaw still set. But the tension began to fade in his eyes.

Sally glared at his back, as if trying to will the rest of her message to him with her mind alone. _We will not let them take you, Sonic. You've fought for us, now we're going to fight for you-_

The Queen took her place behind Sonic and Scratch, next to Sally. Sally dropped her hand, gathering her breath and arranging her skirts. The combined entourage fanned out behind them, taking their places.

Sonic lifted his gaze to the door before him, and took a long, deep breath.

The doors opened.


	19. Human and Hedgehog

"Hello, rodent," Robotnik said.

Sonic stood at the base of a bronze circular throne, beneath the large mecha-human. Robotnik's black vinyl eyes shifted in his metal eye sockets. He curled back his red lips to reveal his teeth and gums.

"Hey," Sonic said. Every muscle in his body felt like it was ready to explode. Robotnik stood up from his throne and began to pace closer to Sonic. He towered a full five feet over him. "What's my name, Sonic?"

"Hey, Doctor Ivo Nikolos," Sonic corrected, gritting his teeth.

"How are you?"

"Mmm," Sonic shrugged.

"How's that uncle of yours and the mutated fox?"

"Good," Sonic quipped.

"Shame you had to miss the meeting last night," Robotnik said.

Sonic shrugged again. "Yeah."

He tried to keep his spikes from unsheathing. Robotnik knew why he had missed the meeting. He had to.

"It sounded like you had a nice chat with the queen and princess to make up for any lost social interaction." Robotnik said, nodding towards the back of the room.

Queen Alicia and Princess Sally stood in their places, watching. Neither one moved or spoke, but Sally's gaze had locked on Robotnik's face the minute she stepped into the room.

Sonic shifted his weight to one leg and lifted his chin. "You wanted some rings this month, right?"

Robotnik stiffened. "Why thank you, yes. But you're avoiding my comment, hedgehog. You expressed some strong feelings to her highness about our little arrangement, didn't he, your majesty?"

The Queen nodded her head once.

Robotnik stared at her for a second, then turned his gaze back to Sonic. "You should really be grateful. Remember? Every ring you give me I use to fuel my roboticizer. If I didn't have your rings, I would have to kill a Mobian, so I could harvest their Mobium, so I could use the Mobium to run my marvelous machine. This way, you are saving lives. I know protecting and guarding your fellow "people" means an awful lot to your little rodent heart."

Sonic's eyes spat with anger. "Yeah. Or you could just not use your machine at all, and that would save two Mobians—one to fuel it, and the one you'd use it on."

"Haha," Robotnik's jaw creaked. "Don't get too plucky with me. You will probably be one of those robots someday." He leaned forward. "Resign yourself to the idea."

Sonic rolled his eyes and glanced away.

"Now. You have my rings?"

"Yep."

Robotnik shoved his hand into Sonic's ring belt and hauled him forward. He unbuckled the belt and began to slip the rings off into his multi-hinged hand. "And you bestowed all of them to me and me alone?"

"Yep."

Sonic always bestowed the rings as fuel-only rings. That way Robotnik could indeed only use them to fuel the roboticizer. No missile weapons or bombs or force shields or anything.

As the rings touched Robotnik's hand, they flared a little, signifying that they had met their rightful owner.

Sonic had downsized each ring to coin-size and turned off their energy fluorescence so they wouldn't float on their own. So, when one ring slipped through Robotnik fingers as he counted, it fell to the floor with a "ping."

Sonic made a scooping motion with his pointing finger from behind his back. The ring shot back up into midair and stopped within an inch from Robotnik's face.

Robotnik jerked back. His eyes swiveled to Sonic, and the laser fluid in his red pupils brightened.

"Dropped that one." Sonic dared.

Robotnik curled his hand around the floating ring. He hesitated for a moment and a low mechanized "mmm…" rumbled in his chest.

At the back of the room, Sally closed her eyes and let out her breath between clenched teeth.

"You know, rodent," Robotnik finally said. "This arrangement has some personal benefits to you as well."

Sonic gave a wry grin.

"I full well remember all the damage you and your electricity-generating turncoat of an uncle did to me and Robotropolis before we made this little pact."

Sonic tensed.

Was this going to lead into last night somehow?

"You were an outlaw to me at that time. Like a pest that keeps breaking into a vegetable garden. If it hadn't been for our _dear_ queen and this pact, I probably would have found some way to kill you. Your life was always in danger then."

Sonic glared ahead. He would have that life back for anything. He and everyone he'd cared about was free then.

"Your Uncle gave himself up to me," Robotnik reminded. "He knew he couldn't run forever. Shame you didn't take a hint from him. Can't you see, this arrangement has given you a second chance?"

Sonic's glare shot back up to Robotnik, but he did not say a word.

He was not going to talk about Uncle Sparks with _him_.

"Or are you already giving up on this second chance?" Robotnik began to put the rings into slots in his arm. "Are you still fighting me?"

This was it. Sonic's mind raced in a thousand directions, and, for once, he could not think of a single clever thing to say to get him out. He was going to be arrested. He was going to die.

Robotnik's eyes bored into him. "Don't worry. It was a rhetorical question."

Sonic waited for the mecha-human to pull a gun out of his robotic wrist, or for his laser eyes to suddenly brighten and blast at his face. But nothing happened.

"You know what I would do with you if it wasn't for this pact?" Robotnik said, as if it was an afterthought. "I would pick you apart. I would take you back to Robotropolis, slice you down the middle, and spend a good couple months trying to figure out what it is that makes you _tick_. You and your rings and your speed…I'd do a lot of things with you. If it wasn't for the pact."

Sonic's voice cracked as a snort escaped him. "You're still going to try."

Robotnik paused, and then a look of surprise crossed his features, as if he hadn't expected Sonic to be that intelligent. "Well…why yes." He extended a hand towards Sonic's head. "Yes, why else would I call you out here every month? So I can _look_ at you, of course."

Robotnik tried to grasp a handful of Sonic's head spikes, but that was too far.

Sonic jerked back, yanking his head away and unsheathing his head spikes with a hiss. The spikes raked across Robotnik's underarm, tearing off the rubber coating on several of the fine wires that controlled his fingers. One of the finger tips suddenly sagged on its hinges, its wire cut.

Robotnik retracted his hand and turned to examine the wire.

Sonic realized what he'd done and he braced himself. He waited for the metal hand to try smacking into his face or gut, or for Robotnik to call for the whip.

But again, Robotnik did nothing. He only turned around and walked away, still looking at his hand.

Sonic glared after him.

Sally watched, her eyes round. She held her breath.

Finally, after what felt like a minute of silence, Robotnik turned back around. "Sonic…you've done your job for today, you can run home. In fact, what about you go and check on that grandfather of yours?"

Sonic felt all the blood drain from his face. He stepped back. "What'd you-" He stopped.

Robotnik bowed to the Queen and princess in the back. "Thank you, your highnesses, I don't think we've had any complications today…I'll look forward to seeing you at the People's Council this afternoon." He smiled.

Sonic kept backing up, his pupils contracting.

 _Not Grampa Chuck._

He had to get out of here.

He dashed about to the double doors, nearly tripping over the shackles on his ankles, away from Robotnik and audience room.

"Sonic!" Behind him, Sally strode forward from her place, marching towards him

"Sonic Ringweilder!" the Queen called, snatching Sally's shoulder.

Sonic forced himself to stop. He swung around to face her.

"Thank you, Sonic." The Queen's face was hollow. "You are dismissed."

A cynical frown crossed Sonic's face, but he meant the words. "Long life to you and the true king, wherever he is." He bowed to them. He gave a pointed look at Sally. "You too, Sal."

Sally stared, her blue eyes wide. She tried to mouth something, but Sonic turned on his heel and pushed through the doors.

Sally spun and fixed her gaze on Robotnik, her lips pursed together in rage.

The mecha-human watched the Queen, a soft light burning in his laser-filled eyes.


	20. The Elevator

Outside of the audience hall, Scratch waited for Sonic.

"Get these things off me, now!" Sonic skidded out the doors, spinning around so Scratch could uncuff him. "Come on, move it, metal-head," Sonic demanded, stomping his foot.

Scratch seemed to move even slower than usual. The cuffs came off and then Sonic began pulling on the chains around his ankles. "These too, come on!"

As the robot released his legs, he fisted and unfisted his hands against the cold marble floor, his green eyes sharpening.

The chains were off, and he jumped to his feet. The hedgehog put on his speed and charged free, across the waiting hall.

Sonic ran towards the nearest palace exit. Which happened to be a balcony.

He leapt onto the railing and jumped-two story drop, an ornamental garden below. He curled into a ball as he fell and landed, his head spikes taking the greatest impact. He unrolled, scrambled, turned on his speed and surged forward—

Towards Gramps. Towards home.

Tails trudged across one of the raised scaffolds of Eggman's Tech Lab, hefting a crate in his arms. The glass beakers inside the crate chinked as he grunted and adjusted his grip. He dodged past the combots and Mobian "volunteers" who swarmed over the facility, sweeping his tails out of their way.

Down below the scaffold runways, in the center of the warehouse, stood an egg-shaped human, dressed in red and bent over a table scattered with combot parts.

"Why does there have to be contact at all?" "Eggman" muttered loudly to himself, his thick voice rising above the bustle. "Idiot marriage between friction and physical substances. Entropy should not be a thing." He turned to a random combot standing at attention next to the table. "This is the third time I've replaced your elbows. If my brother would just listen to my theories on Mobium joint replication and loan me some of those hedgehog's "magic" rings, you would never break a socket ever again..."

Tails climbed down the stairs and pushed the crate up onto the end of the table where the beakers would be available to Eggman. He caught his breath, then hauled up a waiting crate of used bowls and tongs, ready to take it back to the sanitation boiler.

"Hey, foxy!"

Tails whipped around, nearly dropping the crate and tripping over his tails in the process. For the millionth time that day he sucked up a breath of air, fear entering his eyes. He cleared his throat and flattened his ears. "Y-yes, sir?"

"You need to talk to Sonic about getting me some rings. Maybe we can work out a deal or something." Eggman said.

Tails' shoulders heaved in a sigh and relief flooded his eyes.

Ever since he'd arrived, he'd been bracing himself for a combot to come up and slam him against a wall, and put him in cuffs. Or tell him Sonic was dead and he was next.

So far everything was normal and that almost made the anticipation worse.

"Well, what are you standing there for?" Eggman raved. "Why shouldn't he share a little? He hates my brother way more than he hates me and he gives Ivo rings every month, for pity's sake."

Eggman turned to face Tails head on.

Anyone could see Eggman was related to Robotnik. He had the same red mustache, pointed nose and bald head, though he had not roboticized a single part of his body. Unless his dark-tinted goggles counted. He never took them off.

Tails blinked. "Um, no. I'll ask him, sir."

"Hmmph. You better. Remember that time when I caught Sonic with the XLight Ray? I'm still the only one who's ever shot down the 'Fastest Thing Alive.'" Eggman cackled. "He still kind of owes me for not blasting his brains out."

Tail pinched his lips, biting back a retort. Eggman _never_ let that one go. Technically, Sonic could have finished Eggman off plenty of times himself. Why he hadn't, Tails still didn't understand.

But all that was back from before the pact, when Sonic and Tails were still on Robotnik's wanted list. Luckily for them, if Eggman had destroyed Sonic, there would have been no one quite as qualified for Eggman to test his weapons of mass destruction on. So, even in the rare moments Eggman could have finished off Sonic, Eggman had always managed to make some sort of "mistake" and Sonic had always managed to live to fight another day.

Eggman chuckled to himself as he turned back to the table. "Those were the days. Fighting him was a lot more fun when there wasn't any pact around to tell me I couldn't try to blow him up any more. Maybe someday. At least I get to babysit _you_." Eggman laughed and snipped a pair of tongs together suggestively.

Tails glanced down and cleared his throat. "Heh, yeah, um, well, guess I better take these back to the sanitation boiler-"

"Sure, sure, scram, just don't forget about asking that blue pineapple of yours for the rings. When you're done with that crate, get me some liquid nitrogen, and then you can play around in the discards for thirty minutes or something." He waved a hand.

Tail's eyes lit up.

There were lots of things he hated about his "work." He hated that Robotnik had talked the court into forcing him to serve Eggman here. He hated that the reason they'd given in was because he was a mutate, and that meant they really didn't care what happened to him, and anyone could make him do anything they wanted. He hated that the real reason he was here was so Robotnik could watch him and keep him separated from Sonic. And in the process, he'd been trapped into helping make the very machines Robotnik would use to enslave more Mobians.

But all that aside, Tails _did_ like working in the discard pile. He couldn't help it. Eggman _did_ have a lot of good ideas, and when he hit a dead end in one of his projects, he just set it aside. Tails felt at home when he could be creating things and solving puzzles…it calmed him down, helped him forget the things he wanted to forget, and remember the things he wanted to remember. Like his daddy's old tech lab and home.

As Tails turned to leave, he knocked into Grounder, the robot who escorted him to and from Eggman's Tech lab every day.

Tails gasped. "Sorry," he winced, then scooted around Grounder and up the stairs.

The robot scooted on its treads to Eggman. "Dr. Julius Nikolos…Urgent message from Dr. Ivo Nikolos for Dr. Julius Nikolos…"

Tails climbed back up the bronze scaffold steps and carried the crate around the scaffold loop into a steam-filled, enclosed section of the building. He stopped before the conveyer belt to the boiler room and emptied the contents of the tray onto the belt. As soon as the crate was empty, the conveyer belt carried the tongs and bowls into the boiler. Tails waited, leaning against the wall and just trying to stay out of everyone's way.

After five minutes, the items came out on the conveyer belt exit. Tails rushed forward and loaded them back into the crate. He set the crate up on a rack to dry, then charged off to retrieve the liquid nitrogen.

Liquid nitrogen was stored in a large climate-controlled deposit box on the bottom floor. He never used his tails to hover at the lab, so he had to use the old cargo elevator instead…

Tails dashed down the hall to the elevator and pulled the service chain.

In half a minute, the elevator creaked to a stop and shuddered open. Tails stepped inside onto a beaten brass floor. The box-like structure was scraped, and darkened with use. It had once been the main loading elevator, so it was about the size of a small kitchen and several carts sat locked into corrals against the walls.

The doors closed, shutting out the noises of the boiler hissing and people talking and robots buzzing…

Tails ears pricked up.

He stood in silence, his arms and tails wrapped around himself.

The elevator lurched, its cables creaking, and the console light dropped from Level Five to Level Four.

The quiet sank into Tails. He blinked and his shoulders slumped. He bowed his head, his forelocks falling into his face.

How was Sonic going to get them out of this one?

 _"_ _Don't you worry, Tails, c'mon man!"_ He'd say _. "It's gonna be okay, it always is-"_

Except he knew Sonic too well. They'd both figured it out pretty young.

Finally, Sonic had just said it one night. After they'd broken back into Robotropolis again, after the pact. _"You know why freaks like you an' me are alive, Tails?"_

 _Tails looked up at Sonic. He knew._

 _Sonic pointed back over his shoulder with his thumb, his eyes blazing, soot covering his face. "We're alive so those people back there can someday live like they should, with homes and parents and ice cream—they've gotta live and—and they're gonna live longer than we ever will," He clenched his fists, "But who cares, huh? I'd die a million times if it means I can do something about this Robotnik creep. Nothing else matters, Tails, not after what he did to us, not after what he's doing now-we better give it all we've got with all the time we have."_

 _Tails stared. His ears flicked back and he nodded with a shaky sigh. "Got it, Sonic."_

 _I'll try, he promised inside. I won't slow you down, and I won't leave, and somehow we're both gonna be brave enough to do it—all the way._

Tails never knew which day would be the end of it all.

He really hoped that when it ended here, he would have peace. That…that someone would be there to wrap their arms around him when he arrived in the Next world and tell him Sonic hadn't been lying after all—in the end, it really was okay.

Tails closed his eyes, letting the back of his head rest against the elevator wall.

The console began to beep. Tails ears cocked and he opened his eyes.

The console light had stopped at "Level Base" but the elevator kept moving—

 _Sideways_.

Tails caught himself against the wall, frowning in confusion. "What?" he whispered to himself, glancing around.

Elevators didn't move sideways. He didn't usually ride this one, but still—

Tail's eyes widened in realization-

Wherever the elevator was going—he would get in huge trouble for being there—

He sucked up a deep breath, and spun around, looking for a place to hide. He glanced up at the emergency exit door on the roof and then at the bins at the end of the elevator.

The elevator lurched to a stop, and it began to swivel.

Tails charged at the nearest bin and scooted behind it. He lay down flat, pressed his face against the floor, curled his tails around himself and held his breath.

The elevator stopped again.

Tails' blue eyes shone from beneath the bin.

The doors opened. A cart wheeled into his line of vision, followed by Eggman's boots and Grounder's treads.

Tails narrowed his eyes and peered through the open elevator at the room beyond.

Boxes. Machinery. The cart blocked his vision and the fox frowned.

Eggman let out a sigh as they struggled to fit the cart inside the elevator.

"You know, it's almost a shame, Grounder," he said. "I've known the hedgehog was breaking into Robotropolis all along, and I think Ivo knew too. There's not going to be much left of him to play with when Ivo's through with him."

Tails eyes widened. He clenched his jaw tight, gnashing his teeth together.

So they did know.

Tails had to get out and find Sonic and get him away from Aero.

Eggman snapped his fingers. "I had seriously wanted some of those rings from the kid—it could have been a real breakthrough. Can't you relay important news bulletins sooner, Grounder? I've had the fox around me all day, and all of a sudden, Ivo drops the word that it's time, and now I have to lug up all this junk before lunch and lock up Tails somewhere-"

Tails' ears pricked up at his name. He didn't move.

"I would have relayed the alert sooner, only Dr. Nikolos just informed me himself, sir," Grounder replied in his monotone.

Tails breathed out, slowly, his eyes growing wider.

He had to keep calm. Breathe. Uncle Sparks had always told him if he didn't learn how to stay cool, he'd get himself and others killed.

 _If only he had been more careful last night—if only Sonic hadn't rescued him and those combots hadn't gotten away. He never should have called Sonic for help—he should have let the combots take him. He'd ruined everything, he was useless, and now Sonic was going to pay for it again—_

"-Ivo's not giving himself much time to bag Sonic, you know." Eggman snorted as the elevator door closed. He pressed some buttons on the elevator console. "The hedgehog could mess up everything. I fought the little pineapple before this truce when he was—what?—eleven? Escape artist. He's grown up a lot since then. Ivo underestimates him and that two-tailed creep. Ah, well. At least we've got these babies…" Eggman patted something.

Tails dared to glance around the edge of the bin for a split moment so he could see the cart. He froze and his eyes widened. There were dozens—maybe fifty of them, whatever they were. They looked like toy jets enclosed in tube-like coffins.

Missiles. They had to be missiles.

Tails blood ran cold.

"What was the trigger word Ivo wanted for their ignition mechanism? That'd be pretty bad if I gave them the wrong word," he snorted. "I can see it all too well…"

"Marx," Grounder beeped.

"Marx, of course, I'll remember that one. Good old Karl." Eggman chuckled. "I have to say, Ivo's going to make him proud. These Mobians…"

Eggman's words fell on deaf ears.

Tails stared at the missiles, frozen in place. Every muscle in his body held taut and sirens blared in his mind.

He could be the only Mobian who knew anything about this. He could stay safe behind this bin until they left with the missiles and then he could find Sonic. The two of them could try to stop…fifty missiles.

No.

Tails clenched his jaw.

If those jets left this elevator, there might never be another chance. As soon as Eggman programed the "trigger word" into their ignite mechanisms, it would be next to impossible for anyone to do anything. Robotnik could set them off at any moment, with a single message from his brain.

Tails began winding his tails. He closed his eyes.

"…They'll never know what hit them, the little animals," Eggman said. " _Lab rats_. All of them. A whole planet full. In fact-" he put a hand on the cart. "-Just too many."

Tails' eyes snapped open, rage shining in them.

He scrambled out from behind the bin, whipping his tails apart. He half-hovered half-charged, his gaze locked on Eggman. He jumped and punched the heel of his sneaker into the base of the human's skull with all his might. _"No you won't!"_

Eggman roared as he dropped to his knees and Grounder's hand attachment converted into a blaster.

Tails snarled as he dropped to the ground in a crouch and charged Grounder. The robot fired point blank at Tails, but the fox threw himself flat with a gasp, wrapping his tails around him. With a shout, he thrust himself towards Grounder, leapt up the robot's arm, and scrambled onto Grounder's back.

Eggman wheezed, trying to get back to his feet.

Tails wrapped one tail and a hand over Grounder's sensors, blinding them. With his other tail and arm, he snatched onto Grounder's blaster hand. His eyes blazed.

"You _won't,_ " Tails snarled. "You won't have this planet and you won't have Sonic!"

Adrenaline and rage fueled his strength. Grounder's arm socket snapped into place beneath his hold. Tails shouted in triumph as he pushed his thumb over the external gun override. He shoved it on, switched the blast-gauge to "laser" and forced the blaster in line with the cart of missiles—

The elevator doors slammed opened.

Combots were there.

Tails took only a fraction of a second to turn his head and look—

-but it was still too much. Grounder regained control of his arm.

Tails fired just as Grounder jerked his arm back. The laser beam burned through the edge of the cart, barely missing Eggman.

Tails let out a sharp shout of frustration, his eyes burning. " _No-_ "

Grounder whipped around on his treads and smashed Tails' body back into one of the edges of the metal bins.

Pain coursed across Tail's face and he barked out.

Something in his shoulder snapped loose. He dropped his hold on Grounder.

The adrenaline and hope died in his eyes.

Tails lunged back towards the bin. Grounder's hand clawed around his upper arm and Tails' yelped.

With twist, the robot flipped the fox into the center of the elevator. Tails body hit the elevator floor and he gasped.

Tails looked up at combots and Grounder surrounding him, their blasters locked on his chest. His eyes flickered with desperation.

He snarled.

Tails kicked at the face of the nearest combot.

The combot's enormous hand punched down on his throat and chest, pinning him to the elevator floor.

Tails sucked in his air, gasping for breath. He snatched onto the massive robot's arm.

"Go ahead!" Tails shouted. The words erupted free from him and he didn't know where they came from. He screwed his eyes shut as tears began to clog his throat and vision. He thrashed with all his might. "I don't care! Take me! Go on! You still won't win—you won't catch Sonic-you can't kill all of us-" He clawed at the combot's hand crushing into his body. "—and I don't care what you do to me—I don't care— _I-don't-care_ - _!_ "

Wow, I just want to give a huge thanks to all you guys! You're definitely on my Thanksgiving list this year! ;-D Special thanks to Elizabeth the Bathog and Sharp Dragon Klaw for their reviews and for chatting with me! :D It's great getting to meet new people and fellow Sonic buddies on here! God bless you! I promise, if I ever have a major story plot I can't figure out, I'll ask to see what you all think should happen-I'm starting to get closer to unwritten parts of the story. I better hop on it!

Keep Marching on and Happy Thanksgiving!

~Connie


	21. Get The Fox

Sonic stopped at his street, catching his breath, his eyes wide.

He stared at the shack. It looked fine.

"Gramps!" Sonic shouted out, trying to sound nonchalant. "Hey, Gramps?"

His heart pounded in his ears. His throat constricted.

Sonic slowed to a trot, speed off, and stopped at the front of the shack. The delivery window shutters were closed. Gramps would normally be in full operation now, taking people's orders for lunch.

Sonic spun around and looked hard at the other shacks on the street. No one was in sight.

Maybe Gramps was in the garden.

Sonic raced behind the shack, past a line of trees to a small open plot of land, fenced in with a dilapidated rock wall. He pushed himself up and over the wall with a grunt. His feet hit the tilled ground and he strode through the rows of dirt, his gaze darting over the garden.

No Gramps. Shovels and pots sat out in the middle of the garden, as if someone had put them out so they could come back and use them later.

Sonic fisted his hands. Something burned in his green eyes.

With a twist, he leapt over the wall, dashed to the back of the house and yanked on the door.

It opened. It hadn't been locked.

All Sonic's spikes unsheathed as he stepped into the shack.

"Gramps, you home?" Sonic's voice cracked.

The lights were off. Sonic took one look at the place and knew Gramps wasn't there.

He narrowed his eyes. His gaze darkened, filling with pain. Anger.

Sonic shot his hand out against the wall and fisted it, hard, his face contorting into a scowl. He trembled, fear racking his body.

With his heightened senses, he picked up every detail of the room—the scuffed dirt floor, the abandoned kitchen supplies on the main room counter, the jar of tomato sauce broken and spilled on the floor, the new scratches on the wood door frame.

Sonic let out a low hiss, all his muscles contracting and his ears flicking back. His head spikes quivered, straining at their sheaths.

He spun on his heel and marched out of the shack, slamming the door hard behind him. The structure shook. His eyes shone, burning hard.

It felt like the back of his throat was tearing.

He didn't care. He just had to find Gramps. And the combots who had taken him, so he could turn them into scrap.

As Sonic turned, the wind stirred a piece of paper caught against the woodpile next to the shack, the side facing the street. The corner of the paper flicked up and Sonic glanced at it.

He could just make out the beginning of a word…

Sonic snatched up the paper.

 _Would You Like to Live Forever Too? This Certificate announces that the Undersigned has decided "Yes!" It is not too good to be true! Indeed, Roboticization will enable you to live forever in the revolutionary and eternal society of Robotropolis. Hurry and sign up to secure your place! There are only 15,000 social slots, and they are quickly being filled—_

Sonic swallowed, his eyes skipping past the rest, too angry to read it. His gaze dropped to the bottom of the paper, at the place for the "Undersigned's" signature. It read Charles, Hedgehog.

Sonic's fingernails dug deep into the paper as he crushed it in his hand.

He lifted his chin, his ears cocked back. Listening to the combots approaching behind him.

His face was set. Blank.

Sonic turned to face them, the Mobium light in his eyes flickering.

Five combots. Human-height. Walking down the street, towards him.

A muscle in his jaw twitched.

He began to walk towards them.

Every detail of their metal bodies blared at him, sharp and crisp.

"Sonic, Current Ringweilder of Planet Marto," chirped the automated female voice. "You are under arrest for high treason against your country and people, due to breaking faith in a pact made between the Mobian Queen and Doctor Nikolos of Robotropolis-"

Sonic put on his speed.

The fire of his gift burned and ripped through all his muscles. In a blur, he tore into the arm socket of the first combot, using his momentum to punch through the socket into the sealed control panel. He twisted out the combot eye, smashed the speaker against the panel cover, and clawed across the nodes on the sensory panel transistor chip.

The nodes bit through his gloves and into his skin beneath his fingernails, and it felt good.

He pulled his arm free and flipped the whole machine over his head in a second. The heel of his tennis shoe smashed into the sensory panel cover and the acid-proof plastic snapped beneath his foot.

Sonic sucked in a breath, glaring over his shoulder at the remaining four combots. Bitterness burned in his bright eyes and in the corners of his smirk.

They hadn't even had time to start firing at him.

Second number two.

Sonic turned to the next combot and lunged all his body weight at its chin. He felt the neck snap, and he lunged again. And again.

He picked up the first combot and smashed it into the second, sending both of them to the ground.

Sonic turned to charge the guns of the third, fourth and fifth combots.

Behind him, one of the floored combots spoke into its intercom in a cracked voice.

The words resounded in Sonic's ears, slow and thick in the midst of his speed. "He…resists…Get…"

The three combots fired laser bullets at his chest as he blurred towards them. He ducked and rolled out of the line of fire and kicked into the first gun.

"…the…fox…"

Sonic's speed shut off. A laser bullet struck past his head, just grazing his ear.

He skidded to a halt, his green eyes wide. He gasped for breath.

Not. Tails. _Not Gramps and_ _not Tails_.

" _No!_ " Sonic screeched, backpedaling, speed on. Dirt spat out from beneath him, showering the combots. He whipped about and ran.

As soon as the dirt cloud settled, one of the combots spoke again into its receiver. "The hedgehog is coming towards you. Get him ready."


	22. The Bully

The tech lab was in upheaval. Tails knelt on the floor in the foyer, beneath the overhang of the great spiraling stairwell. Chains wound around his tails and arms, and one of his shoulders slumped. The fox watched the combots securing the building, his body stiff and jaw locked.

He had finally stopped shouting at them.

He had not destroyed the missiles and he had not warned Sonic. _And who knew how many innocent Mobians would die alongside him today because of it._

He only hoped he could bravely endure the pain they would inflict on him before they killed him. Like Sonic would.

"Keep moving the live workers, CB360L, your regiment has two minutes to get them all in the basement— _quietly_ , in the basement."

Eggman marched into the foyer. He spoke into a combot messenger with one hand and held an ice pack to the back of his head with the other. He shot a pointed smile at Tails as he walked into the room. "Understand, CB360L? They'll be our Plan B if Plan A falls through."

Tails lifted his chin higher. A shaky breath escaped him.

Eggman turned off the messenger and approached Tails.

Tails watched him, swallowing.

"Well, I think we've got everything in order now." Eggman put his hands behind his back. He nodded to the combots holding Tails. "We're going up the stairs. To the top floor."

The two combots standing on either side of Tails snatched his upper arms, and the fox scrambled to his feet. The movement jarred his shoulder and a grimace struck across his face. He growled back a cry of pain, bowing his head.

"Do you need me to pop that back in for you?" Eggman said, clasping his hands.

Tails' forelocks fell into his eyes as he glared up at Eggman. He didn't say a word.

"Good, because I wouldn't," Eggman snickered. He laughed at himself.

Tail's good shoulder slumped. He stared at the human before him, confusion crossing his eyes.

Eggman's words were so… characteristic of him. Just a bunch of mean, bullying, snide words.

How could this human really do this to them? He wasn't a mass murderer, was he? Tails had never seen him kill one Mobian before. There had been several times when Eggman had ordered him to do an especially dangerous job, and sometimes he played cruel or painful jokes, but—He had even let Sonic escape that once—

The fox lunged forward.

"Please, sir, you don't have to do this," Tails blurted out. Before he could stop himself, tears welled up in his eyes. "You don't have to do what Robotnik says—you can deprogram the missiles before it's too late-you don't have to kill us-" Tails stopped, choking on the words.

His clenched his fists, his body stiff.

He knew people were terrible. The worst had thrown rocks at him and hated him for being a mutate. The better ones had left him and Sonic to fight alone. People were selfish and dumb and cruel.

But… then there was Grampa Chuck, who had taken him in and accepted him into his shack, into his home…there was Sonic, who'd seen him half-dead in a cage on the new Mobius orphanage rooftop, decided he didn't like it, broke him out, and kept him ever since…there was Zoey at the exchange school, who smiled at him when she caught him looking at her and each of those smiles he'd locked into his memory forever…there was Sally and Bunnie and Knuckles and Crème and Amy Rose—and then there were the people he saw every day, like Grampa Chuck's customers and people on the street, people with light in their eyes, people who told flat jokes, people who cried, people who hugged, people who forgave, people who hoped…

How could Eggman not understand that? Weren't humans people too? How could Eggman look on while Robotnik gunned them down, and chained them to Mobium extractors, and dragged them to the roboticizer to turn their bodies into _machines_ —

"Aw, _Tails_ ," Eggman crooned.

The words cut into Tail's thoughts. His gaze refocused. He watched Eggman, desperation on his face.

"You and those big blue eyes of yours—still trying to see the best in everyone, aren't you?" Eggman leaned over and tugged on one of his cheek tufts.

Tails stiffened.

"Even _me_." Eggman smiled.

Tails stared at Eggman's tinted glasses. He breathed out slowly.

Eggman laughed. "Unfortunately for you, I really like the idea of living forever in a world of flawless robotic beings, where I am free to explore the bounds of my creativity. No mess or fuss." He brushed off his hands. "We're all downgrades now, Tails. You Mobians will be happier creatures once your social problems have all been programmed out of you—I know I certainly will."

For a second, Tails did not move. He blinked.

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving. He began to shake.

"Eggman," he said. "I hope when you have your eternal world you wish you _could die_ after all." His voice rose. "Because of the _guilt_. I hope you drown in it, and the memories of the people you let die, until you are _sick_ , and wish you _could_ die-!"

Eggman forced out a laugh. He pinched Tail's cheek, hard.

Tails winced, cutting his words short.

"Speaking of which—it's time we went upstairs together." Eggman said.

Tails' eyes sharpened in understanding.


	23. At the Top of the Stairwell

Eggman's tech lab loomed on the horizon, a jutting glass and metal fixture sticking out of the cliff face adjoining the city. The hedgehog below stared up at it, charging on through the the forests and outskirts of Capitol Aero, as far as he could.

Sonic sucked up another gulp of air. His stomach turned.

He reached the edges of the trees, and raced across the mile of open ground between him and the lab, pushing the limits of his speed, dirt flying from beneath him. Toward the back of the building—and the line of combots waiting for him.

Sonic's eyes narrowed.

 _Gramps, probably being carted off to Robotropolis in some transport-bot at this very moment. Tails—who—who knew what they were doing to Tails._

The combots shot.

Sonic whipped through the first line of bullets and plowed through two of the combots with a shout. He leapt into a spin dash, curling up tight into a ball, as the combots and he somersaulted over each other. Sonic whipped out of the ball and surged up the wall of Eggman's tech lab, to the nearest glass window.

He crashed through, feet first. The shards of glass shattered around him in slow motion. A three story drop waited beneath him. He had come in on one of the high windows overlooking the main lab room.

Sonic grunted in concentration as he fell. He shot all his limbs out towards the scaffolding a foot away from him, fighting the air. The tips of his fingers touched the edge of the scaffold rail and it was all he needed. Speed off, his hands snatched onto the rail, and his body swooped beneath the rail onto the scaffold. He skidded across the grid-floor on his sneakers and his hands.

He froze, hissing. The hedgehog's ears cocked back.

The place was swarming with combots. He could sense them positioned all throughout the warehouse. And all the workers were gone—the place was totally silent except for the robots. Eggman had been expecting him. Tails was either gone, dead, or going to be very soon.

Sonic whipped into a blur, charging across the scaffold, leaving it rattling behind him.

They climbed up the nine-story spiraling stairwell in Eggman's tech lab, the two combots hauling Tails by his upper arms. The fox's two tails dragged behind him, limp and useless from the weight of the chains wrapped around them. Tails breathed in and out through gritted teeth, trying to keep silent every time the combots shifted his shoulder. Grounder and Eggman followed close behind.

Eggman kept listening to the feed on his combot messenger. He cleared his throat. "Hurry it up, move it."

They stepped onto the top floor of the tech lab, an enclosed landing with only a metal scaffold to act as a barrier between them and the nine-floor drop down to the basement floor.

As soon as they reached the top, Tails sagged, unable to stop from shivering.

Eggman pressed his gloved fingers against the top corner of a paneled wall piece. The piece clicked open and Eggman pulled out a long tray from the wall…a tray covered in an electric map. The hologram on the console formed a layout of the tech lab. Eggman traced his fingers around the figure of the stairwell.

Tails raised his head just enough to glance at the map and Eggman.

At once, an energy field leapt up on the floors beneath them, cutting off the stairwell from the rest of the building. The field spiraled down, all the way to the basement, until someone could look over the side of the stairwell and see a single tunnel, shooting straight down to the bottom floor.

Tails eyes widened.

He let out a sharp breath of air, stiffening his legs.

Eggman continued to play with his console. "All right, Grounder, let's get on with it."

A combot knocked into the back of Tails legs, sending him to his knees on the floor.

Grounder wheeled around to face Tails, his black eyes blinking. "Mobian," his speaker announced. "You have defied Dr. Ivo Nikolos by breaking and entering into Robotropolis. We have secured footage of you in Robotropolis at tech lab Spectank, and we have reason to believe you conspired with the Ringweilder to release a high-security prisoner, an echidna, and facilitate his escape from Robotropolis. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?"

Tails stared, his eyes glazing over through the speech. He still shook. At the question, he paused. "Guilty," he said, his voice small.

Grounder scooted closer to him. "Then, where is the echidna?"

Tails blinked at the question. "You mean…you don't have him?"

Eggman rolled his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose.

Grounder wheeled closer to Tails. "Tell us where he is, and you will not die."

Tails stared. He let out a long, shaky sigh, and bowed his head.

The combots yanked him up from the ground and slammed him back against the metal stair railing. Tails barked in pain, trying to worm away out of instinct. Grounder's hand shot out into his face and pushed him back by the head. Forcing the fox's upper body backwards, bent over the rail and the nine-story drop.

Tails legs gave way beneath him. He tried to coil his tails about himself despite the chains. Grounder's hand forced his head to the side so he could glance down at the sickening drop.

The basement floor looked like a patch on a checkboard.

"Want to go for a fly?"

Tails closed his eyes hard.

It would probably take about three and half seconds to fall once he factored in the weight of his chains. Three and a half seconds. Then his body would explode once he hit the basement floor. It would all be over in three and a half seconds.

He didn't mind the feel of falling too much.

One of the combots grabbed the chain wrapped around Tails' middle and hefted his waist over the edge of the rail. The fox's body dipped back and he stiffened like a board, all his muscles locked in terror. He let out a loud gasp.

Grounder's hand snatched his good shoulder, stopping his fall.

Tails heaved for air.

"Look, screw up," Eggman said, walking over to the scaffold to stand over the fox. He chuckled. "Look at you, you don't want to die. You're just a kid."

Tails fought the gravity pulling back on his head, keeping his chin tucked against his chest, his eyes screwed shut. He quivered.

"Come on, Tails? Where did the echidna go?" Eggman asked.

"I'm gl-glad you d-don't know—" Tails' voice shook as he forced out the words between his teeth, his jaw locked.

Tears sprang to his eyes.

He'd lost it. He couldn't stay cool, even after all he'd been through. They'd all been right about him. The fear broke through. The sob lurched free from him.

The truth was, at the end of the day, no matter how many times he had faced death and pain in the past, he was still just an undersized twelve year old who needed his parents.

At the sight of Tails' tears, Eggman cleared his throat. He motioned with his hand and the combots pulled the fox forward several inches. Grounder still held him bent backwards over the rail. His automated voice clipped out, "You knew the echidna and were seen visiting his island on occasion. Where do you think he went?"

Tails growled through another sob.

"Some place in the forest?" Grounder tried. "Someplace underground?" He waited. His gears clicked and his voice increased in volume. "Say something!"

Tails sucked up a breath of air.

" _Drop me!_ " he shouted, his sobs heaving free.

For several seconds, neither Grounder nor Eggman spoke.

The fox waited for them to say or do something—anything. His torn shoulder and upper body throbbed.

Eggman stared down at Tails, frowning hard. He bit his lip and cleared his throat. "Look…Tails…you don't have to die today." His tone was almost congenial. "Just think about it for a bit, this is a big moment in your life! Now, I'm not going to pretend you don't…care about Sonic, in some way—after all, Ivo assures me Mobians do replicate many of the emotions and bonding patterns as humans, and I've seen it myself. So…think about Sonic! If we kill you now—what will be left for him? When it's his turn to die, he'll die alone…and if my guess is right," Eggman paused and stepped closer. He leaned over Tails staring down into the fox's stricken eyes. "If my guess is right…Sonic _hates_ being alone."

Tails closed his eyes. He shook with his suppressed sobs, the words stabbing into his mind. He shook his head-

Eggman pressed his fingers beneath Tail's chin and bruised cheek, forcing his head still. "Take your time and think about it…there may be some innocent little piece of information you can share with us, and then we may be able to work out something. Maybe you could even tell him goodbye."

"I-have nothing-to say to you," Tails gulped out between his tears.

"You have some time to change your mind." Eggman said, patting his cheek. "You can just stay right here and think about it. I'll leave you here with Grounder. He has some more questions you can answer for him, and he'll let me know how things progress."

Tails sagged over the drop, letting his head fall back.

Man, it took a lot longer for me to upload this time! Sorry for the wait. :-D Christmas has come to our house, so it's been really, really busy lately. Anyway, thank you again for the reviews and for reading! :] Hope ya'll enjoy!

~ConnieP.S. A couple updates-I finally got my About Me page up and I also hope to edit/add/replace many of the "Presode" chapters very soon. I'd also like to become more active on the forums here, if I can find the time! Either way, hope I can see you all around Fanfic more. ;-)

MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!


	24. Countdown

Sonic dashed through one of the many hallways on the third floor, his gaze darting over the rows of sealed labs. He skidded to a stop at the hallway intersection, clutching onto the wall paneling. "Tails!" He screamed, " _Eggman!_ "

A robot turned a corner down one of the hallways. Sonic took one look, turned and ran.

He glared, his jaw clenched.

Eggman had to know he was there. The combots and security cameras would have made sure of that.

He had probably already finished doing whatever he wanted to do to—

He was _not_ gonna think that way! He was _no_ t _!_ He wasn't gonna believe it until he could see for himself—until he could see Tails with his own two eyes and pick him up, if there was anything left for him to pick up, and feel for his pulse and his heartbeat—

He'd kill Eggman-

Tears stabbed at his eyes and he gasped for breath.

Sonic growled hard and swiped a hand across his face, swallowing the beginnings of a lump in his throat.

He kept running.

He rounded a corner, and skidded to a stop, dropping to all fours. A large energy shield buzzed before him, cutting off the hallway.

Weird.

Sonic jumped back to his feet and scrambled to try the next hallway—

A second energy field appeared out of nowhere down the hall behind him.

Trapping him in between.

Sonic's eyes widened and he shot back against the wall.

All his spikes unsheathed and every hair on his body raised. He crouched low, forcing himself to keep breathing steadily.

They had him—the roof was going to drop on him, or the walls would snap shut on him like a book closing up—this had all been a scheme to kill him, Tails probably wasn't even here, he was probably already long gone—he had to break through one of the doors in the extra rooms or something—

Sonic waited for a second, his senses sharpened, his green eyes bright against the darkness of the hall.

He breathed out.

Sonic scrambled across the floor on all fours and stopped before the energy field.

It was clear, buzzing and crackling softly. Ripples of energy distorted the surface, making the hallway beyond it look blurry. Sonic raised both of his gloved hands, his gaze fixed on the shield. He pressed his hands almost up against the shield so he could feel the intensity of the energy waves. A couple sparks warmed his gloves but that was all.

He rolled back onto his hands and kicked his feet up at the shield with all of his might.

At once, the wall sprang towards him like a trampoline, enveloping his body in a net of cracking, stabbing pain.

Sonic let out a shout as his body skidded across hallway floor, thrust back by the force of the shield.

Sonic gasped for breath. His limbs locked and his heart raced. He could almost feel the energy slowly zapping through his body, working its way towards his limbs.

"Tsk, tsk, Sonic." Eggman's voice. "Touching an energy field, I'm surprised at you. I mean, really, how have you managed to stay alive this long?"

Sonic arched his back and neck to stare at the shield, glaring hard.

He froze.

The shield had become a screen, but instead of Eggman's face, Sonic saw video footage of two combots, Grounder and Tails at the top floor of a spiral stairwell.

All of Sonic's heightened senses focused onto the image of Tails.

He stared, unable to move or speak.

 _He could still save him._

"It's a live stream, Sonic. You are watching Tails at this very moment in time, but if you don't believe me, come to the foyer and see for yourself. No fooling. You'll have ten seconds, but don't try any more stunts in that time. My cameras can sense your motion, and all the doors leading to the stairwell have been blocked with my fields. Only the foyer floor entrance is clear for you."

At that moment, the field and screen dissipated.

"Ten…ni-"

Sonic surged forward, down the hall, towards the foyer.

"What about the Emerald?" Grounder asked.

Tails still lay bent back over the drop below, tear stains wetting his cheeks. He sucked up another breath of air and let gravity pull his head back down. Another shudder of pain ran through him.

"Don't—don't know," he mumbled out. He tried to writhe closer to the rail, but Grounder held him firm.

"Oh yes you do, fox." Grounder's leaden eyes shown on Tails, his monotone blaring out. "The great relic the echidna guarded. The Emerald of immortal power. You and the hedgehog were two of few who ever even spoke to him. List the top five places he could be hiding."

Tails let out a long sigh.

"Did the Queen and Mobius council tell you and the hedgehog to go after the Emerald?"

Tails rolled his head from side to side, taking deep breaths.

 _He could barely understand what Grounder was saying anymore._

Grounder stared down at the fox.

The robot lunged forward, snatched Tail's upper arms with both hands and shook him hard.

Tails barked in pain and tried to lurch onto his side. He swiped up both his tails, weighted chains and all and smashed them against Grounder.

The robot lurched, but he did not tip off his treads. He held the fox down.

Tails slumped in defeat, overpowered. He gasped and another sob broke free. "We just wanted Knuckles back," he shouted, "We didn't want to lose him…we…he was our friend…"

Grounder's round eyes zoomed in on Tails, clicking.

"You…don't know what that's like. They didn't let you know—you're not programmed for that… You only do and say what they tell you to," the fox finished. He cried.

Grounder's speaker rewound. "Let me ask you again…"


	25. The Barter

"Six-"

Sonic charged into the tech lab foyer, all sense of self-preservation lost. He skidded to a halt on the hard marble floor and spun to face the stairwell.

"You came, hedgehog!" Eggman said. "Very good, especially considering you could have been walking into a line of combot fire and I might not have had your fox here at all."

The stairwell stood before Sonic. The whole structure was shrouded in a spiraling energy field.

Sonic kept his gaze fixed on the shield. He strode forward, stopped inches before the energy field, and jerked his head up.

Far above him, on the highest floor, he saw Tails' head and his back. He could barely see the combots over the edge of the rail.

"And, yes, it's not a hologram," Eggman said.

Behind both layers of the energy shield stood Eggman, the field distorting his image.

Sonic's focus doubled on Eggman, murder in his eyes.

"Now in ten seconds you can watch him fall down to the basement," Eggman said, hands clasped. "And you already know it would be pointless to jump through the energy-"

"-What do you want?" Sonic screamed at him, backing up, all his spikes unsheathed. "Is it me?" He stabbed at his chest with his thumb. "You want me, huh? Is that it? Well here I am." Sonic dropped to knees and thrust out his hands where Eggman could see them. "This is plain surrender, Eggman. Bring him down, safe and sound, and I'm not going anywhere."

Eggman didn't reply for a moment. "Hmm. I forgot you thought fast too."

Fear bolted through Sonic's eyes. His voice rose in intensity and he shook. "If you don't keep your part of the deal—if you kill him-!"

"Don't worry, hush up, Sonic, I don't want to kill him, he's a lot more useful alive-" Eggman snickered. "I mean, just look at you. But I will kill him if I have to. Or I can just, I don't know, stick him with electric pins for awhile, and I'm sure you'd love to watch that-"

The tears pricked at Sonic's eyes. He swallowed hard, still glaring, and took a quick, deep breath. "You people-"

He shut up, unable to speak.

"Well, let's not dally, if you really surrender, lay on your stomach and cross your wrists and ankles behind your back. My combots will be with you shortly—you are surrounded you know," Eggman said.

For a brief moment, Sonic did not move.

He took one glance back up at Tails and lay down on the floor. He didn't know what would happen once he gave himself up, but he'd figure it out.

 _He needed to get up and run out of there._ He had to stay free so he could fight for Mobia. He couldn't throw away his life and his gift with it—he had to live as long as possible so he could stop Robotnik—that's why he'd been _born_.

Did he honestly expect Gramps and Tails to stay alive, being as close to him as they were? He should let Tails die. He couldn't live his whole life trying to keep him alive. People died. Tails would probably be happier dead.

Sonic crossed his wrists and ankles behind his back and pushed the side of his face against the floor, closing his eyes. He heard the metallic clanking steps of the combots, circling in on him.

Whatever. He still wasn't strong enough to live without them.

"It's alright, Sonic, I know how you work better than you do sometimes." Eggman said. I knew this fox was all you had left, other than the old one—and, if I was informed correctly, he's long gone by now. At least you've saved one last life," Eggman sneered.

Sonic's eyes burned at the words, but he forced himself to lay still as the combots closed in.

Let them do their worst.


	26. Sword of the House of Aero

_He thought he was going to die._

Sally walked through the glass tunnels of the palace terrarium. Tendrils of hair fell loose from the circlet and brushed her cheek and neck. Her skirts trailed on the stone and dirt beneath her feet.

At the end of the tunnel, Queen Alicia took her place on a glass bench, her gown pooling around her.

Sally stared, her eyes distant.

Strands of gold draped around her mother's body like trickles of water. Sunlight filtered through the windows to fall on her slight form, her head bowed. She fingered the pommel of an elegant sword hanging from her hip.

Sally's gaze locked on the sword. Carved from one solid piece of blur ore. It illuminated by night and frosted by day. The one her father had once used.

The queen looked up and the two met each other's eyes.

Down the tunnel, the doors to the terrarium shut and Sally's entourage began to take their positions around the dome, their backs to the glass. This was the one public place where only the royal family could enter and have privacy and solitude. Queen Alicia spent hours there.

Sally bowed her head. The Queen rose.

"Dear Sally…" Queen Alicia said. Her voice was gentle, soft. But the whole room seemed to vibrate with fear.

Sally blinked. She waited.

"I...I don't even approve of him," the queen tried. "…and yet…"

Sally lifted her eyes. She brushed her thumb along the leaf of an ornate tree at her side.

The queen never finished.

"He is insufferable," Sally agreed, her tone as light as she could make it. "But he is brave."

The queen's shoulders heaved as she rose to her feet. She walked to her daughter.

She took Sally's shoulders. Sally stared up at her and Alicia began to brush Sally's unruly hair back behind her ear into her circlet. "Your father is coming back, dear," she whispered. "Giving Sonic to the Doctor could buy us a little more time, even a few more months…surely we can hold out a few more months."

Sally stared up at her.

The Queen averted her gaze.

"Mama," Sally breathed. "We cannot-" her voice turned hard. "- _Hide_ behind him."

Queen Alicia's color paled beneath her fur.

"He is our servant and subject and he is faithful," Sally almost snarled the words. "If our family was anything like father said the Royal Family of Aero should be, I would be the one standing in chains in that audience room every month, not him."

For a moment, neither one spoke. The queen did not look at her.

"Please don't," Queen Alicia whispered, finally.

Sally's eyes widened.

"I know you are here to tell me… Sally," Alicia said. "You are the heir to the throne and the hope of our people. If you…if something happened to you…" she could not continue.

"Mother," Sally said, " _We may not have months_."

Queen Alicia pinched her lips harder.

"Every night, I lay awake," Sally said, "Waiting, trying to guess which day it is going to be. I eat and walk and breathe with the stench of dread and ruin hovering over me…everywhere. Sonic is right. If I must die, I must die fighting and _free._ It is to the point where I have thought about it for so long, that facing them means almost nothing to me now. I cannot live waiting another moment, not now that that he plans to take Sonic." Sally lowered her voice. "You…you know what he, I and Bunnie and—and the others do. If we lost his speed and Ringweilding…I can't even think how we could…I don't know…" Sally shook her head to herself. "But more importantly than that, it's wrong. Father would not let this happen to him. I _have_ to—"

The Queen raised her hands to her face and her shoulders began to shake. "Oh, Sally."

Sally stopped.

She stared, her eyes filling with grief.

Inside, she cracked open, the part of her that had to be strong. She would have given anything to take her mother away. She never should have had to be ruling queen. She was a healer, not a politician.

 _Why wasn't her father here?_

Sally flung her arms around her mother and hugged her as hard as she could. "Mama-" she gritted out.

"I am sorry," the Queen gasped. "I never should have let that human come here." She closed her eyes and barely mouthed the words. "Do what you must, Sally…and may there be mercy for me," she added. "So I can do…" she heaved back the tears, clutching the hilt of the sword at her side. "…what _I_ must as well."

Finally got a spare moment to upload some more chapters! I'd upload more, but they need some editing first. Thank you again so much for taking time to read! X]

Merry Christmas again! Only ten more days!

~Connie


	27. Pay Back

Sally strode back down the halls of the palace, towards the royal family's wing. Her auburn hair and skirts trailed behind her and she held her chin high.

As if she was not afraid. Others were watching.

She arrived at the archway leading to her tower wing. Her entourage took their places outside the door, leaving her to pass through, alone. They shut the door behind her.

She stopped and spun around, clenching her fists hard. Passion flared in her gaze as she glanced over her shoulder at the door, her lip curled. She trembled and fear pricked through the anger in her blue eyes.

If she made one wrong move, everyone would die. Sonic, her mother, her, the whole city.

Sally started stamping up the flight of steps before her, her fists clenched.

When she reached the top of the stair and parted the curtain to her sleep chambers, she yanked her circlet from her head and shook out her hair. The thick locks fell into her face hiding her chipmunk markings and blue eyes. She blew them out of the way and began braiding with nimble, small fingers.

She had not even found the opportunity to relay her plan to Sonic. He had no idea what was going on. He didn't know it would be all right.

If everything went according to plan, it would be all right.

Of course everything would go according to plan. She and Bunnie had been planning all night. They were rebels. They had spent the last years of their lives sneaking out at night and breaking into an enemy city and shooting down attack jets over villages. They were skilled. They were trained. _Their plans worked._

Sally strode out onto her balcony and looked down at the series of towers, parapets and balconies dotting the roof of the palace of Aero. A glass dome rose at the far, open end of the cliff—the People's Council Dome.

Sally pinched her lips again in anger, and a shudder ran through her shoulders. The first tears welled up in her eyes.

She stopped herself, letting her braid fall unfinished.

Sally sank down to the marble floor, her head bent, hair falling loose over her shoulders and knees. A strangled sound broke free from her and she pinched her eyes shut.

"Alright, alright, be quiet up there, Grounder!"

Grounder fell silent at once.

Eggman took one look at the small fox bent over the rail, limp and quivering with exhaustion. "We're done with him," he said.

"Yes, sir," Grounder said.

Without warning, Grounder whipped Tails upright and shoved him forward to the floor.

Tails' legs buckled beneath him and he fell onto his face. He crouched on the floor, shaking with suppressed tears, waiting.

"You did a great job, Tails!" Eggman said.

Tails managed to lift his head, his eyes out of focus. He almost rocked off balance.

Eggman caught his chin, steadying him. "Did you hear me? You've passed the test!"

Tails blinked, sucking up the remnants of his strength, "No!" He shouted. "I…I don't know! I promise you, I promise I don't know-!"

"It's okay, foxy, you don't have to know," Eggman patted his cheek. "If I'd really wanted information out of you, I just would have hooked you up to a lie detector or given you truth serum or something."

Tails stared at Eggman.

"It would have been nice if you would have slipped us some information, but that's not what I really wanted." Eggman said. He grinned. "I wanted Sonic."

Tails' eyes widened, his vision beginning to focus.

"I knew he'd come for you." Eggman explained. "Once he saw there was no way he could physically rescue you, he surrendered so I wouldn't drop you over that rail."

Tails stared, a new kind of terror piercing his eyes.

"Oh, and _thanks_ for the lump." Eggman grinned, touching the back of his head. "Of course, I had to punish you for that too. Your transparency is priceless. Especially the crying. Wish I could have _filmed_ that. All in all, I think things have evened up between us."

Tails began to shake his head. As if hadn't even heard Eggman's words.

He choked on a sob. _"What?"_

Eggman snickered and pinched his arm.


	28. Don't End the Game Early

Tails was half-marched, half-dragged down the stairwell in silence, his world reeling, his eyes dim.

He was not going to be pushed over a railing and fall down nine stories to his death. Sonic had traded the little freedom he had left and probably his life, so that wouldn't happen.

He was _going to live_ , and Sonic—

Tears rolled down the fox's cheeks, but he didn't make a sound.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Tails lifted his gaze.

At least thirty combots surrounded him. His friend, his brother, his hero. All their blasters at the ready. The hedgehog sat propped against one of the foyer pillars, his torso, hips, legs, knees, ankles, arms and wrists all secured with ECcord. A stretching rope that hardened when triggered by an electric current.

Tails breathed.

Sonic turned his head to face Tails, his gaze sharp.

Light surged through Tails eyes. He caught his breath and screamed—

" _Sonic-!_ "

"Tails!" Sonic lurched forward. Desperation and loss flashed though his eyes. "Are you okay, man, what'd they do-!"

Grounder's wrapped one around Tails' waist and pointed the barrel of his hand blaster against Tails' temple. "Hold still, hedgehog."

Sonic froze. Bitterness filled his vision and he looked away, rolling his eyes. The combots pulled him back against the pillar.

Tails stared as if sick, his eyes wide.

 _How…dare Sonic keep him alive._

Of course he hadn't wanted to die. It had been a long way down. He had been terrified, but he was going to die anyway, eventually, wasn't he? He'd been arrested for breaking into Robotropolis and he'd tried to destroy a shipment of missiles. Of course they would kill him. Sonic should have known he couldn't save him ultimately.

Tails glared. He'd been used again. Used again to bring down the Ringweilder of Mobia. He deserved death just for that-

But though his mind tried to repress it and though he mentally affirmed his thoughts, the indebtedness still began to prick through the pain in his eyes.

Of course Sonic wouldn't leave him. He knew that.

Of course Sonic would do this for him.

That was just Sonic.

He wasn't perfect. There were times when Tails wished the hedgehog would just get the sock-in-the-face he had coming to him.

But when all was said and done, Sonic deserved the best in life as long as he lived.

Resolve hardened in Tails' eyes.

He was going to make sure Sonic lived for a long time.

Eggman was talking. "You two don't really have time to chit chat anyway. You both have a trial to attend. Load them up, boys."

Grounder pushed Tails forward, the blaster still against his head.

Fire flashed through Tails' eyes. With all his might, the fox hefted up his tails, chains and all and he dug his heels against the floor. He slammed his tails into Grounder's treads, sending the robot off balance. Tails lunged back and Grounder tipped onto his side with a wheeze. The blaster went off and a bolt of energy exploded into Tails' back.

Tails fell forward onto his face with a snarl.

Sonic's shout rang through the room.

"Oh nuts!" Eggman hissed, hurrying over to the fox.

Tails stared across the floor, listening to his heartbeat and feeling the pain began to creep over his back, into his chest and shoulder, his mind. He shuddered.

Good. They wouldn't use him against Sonic anymore.

Somehow, Sonic had half scrambled half-rolled over to Tails. He was still bound and combots snatched at him, but he was shouting. "Get off me now, I'm not going anywhere!"

"Out of the way, Sonic, we'll take care of him, it was just a blast, not a shell. Grounder, scan the fox, assess the damage." Eggman said, checking his watch.

Sonic's eyes flashed. "Let me talk to him or you'll never get him or me to that trial," he shouted.

Eggman glanced up and met Sonic's gaze, glaring.

For a brief moment, the two stared, their eyes locked on each other. Sonic clenched his jaw.

Eggman huffed and rolled his eyes. "Confound you hedgehog, okay, I get it. Make it quick. Hurry up, Grounder."

Sonic dropped down on his stomach and lay with his face on the ground, next to Tails.

Tails blinked slowly.

"What are you doing, idiot?" Sonic hissed.

Tails took a shaky breath. "I—y-you…run. Run, Sonic."

Fear shot through Sonic's eyes.

Tails saw the fear. For a moment he looked sorry, but he still forced out the words. "You need to run."

Sonic dropped his voice to a whisper, "Tails, I want to do this, 'kay?" He stopped for a second and swallowed. "I—I really need you to stick around…"

Tail's eyes widened, his face still wet with tears. He frowned, as if confused.

Something bad had happened.

…But whatever it was, this was no time for Sonic to lose his moxie.

Tails took a breath, pain streaking across his face. "Eggman has missiles…a lot of missiles…"

Sonic's eyes narrowed.

"R-remember, you can-can't give up…" Tails said.

"—Hey, I never said nothing about that," Sonic hissed. "The game's not over here 'til we're dead. Just don't end the game early, see?"

Tails' brow furrowed.

"Okay," Eggman said, stepping over the two. "The blast just missed his spinal cord. Lots of burning, but he'll survive." He huffed, turning to the combots. "We don't have time for this. Get him out to the jetship and work on his back there and pop his shoulder back in—whatever it takes to get him to the trial. The fox has got to make it into the council room or Ivo will have my head-"

Sonic and Tails stared at each other.

"Th-thank you," Tails whispered, tears brimming in his eyes. "…for not l-letting them..."

"Just stay cool," Sonic ordered as the combots snatched onto his head spikes and shoulders. They dragged him off the floor, away from Tails.


	29. The Princess

Nicole beeped.

Sally's clawed hand shot out from where she still sat in a heap against the balcony wall. She snatched the computer from beneath her gown in the gym shorts and flipped it open. She turned her head with a sigh, brushing hair out of her bloodshot eyes. She fixed her gaze on the screen.

It was Bunnie.

Sally checked her signal encryptors. All still running. She opened the channel with Bunnie.

"This is Acorn," Sally said.

Her father had always teased her by calling her his "Sally Acorn." She'd kept it as her cover name.

"Rabbot here," Bunnie replied. "Just wanted to say, Sally, people are startin' to arrive at the Council and, there's this strange jetship that just landed on the People's Dome…do you see it, suga'?"

Sally narrowed her gaze, studying the dome. "…no…I'll get ready."

"All right, um…how did Sonic take it…?"

Sally sighed. "I didn't have a chance to tell him. He ran straight off afterwards."

"Sounds like Sa'nic."  
Sally rolled her eyes. "Hm. He knows about the council though…"

"Ooooh," Bunnie moaned. "He must be scared to death, even if he doesn't show it, poor fellah…I can't stand this."

Sally's eyes burned. "I cannot stand knowing how much they are going to make him suffer before we can reach him. If my guess is right. If only I could have warned him somehow when I had the chance—"

Bunnie did not reply.

"But there is no other way, Bunnie," Sally said, her voice soft. As if she was speaking more to herself than Bunnie. "In the end…I am just like the rest of them. Using him and any other pawns at my disposal for the good of the many…but what other choice do I have?" She paused, her gaze dropping to the stone panels beneath her. "It's…it is _horrid_ being born to make such decisions. To view people like that. To be a savior and monster all at once."

"Shh, shh, you're being hard on yourself, Sally-gal, you're not—"

"No I'm not," Sally hissed. "I'll say it this once, and then I promise I'll never say it again, because I know it's wrong to say it…but I _hate_ being the princess, Bunnie."

Bunnie did not reply for a moment.

"I've known that for a long time, Sally," Bunnie said.

Sally blinked as if puzzled. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "…Of course you would Bunnie….forgive me, we need to focus….we _must_ rescue Sonic." She began to stand up. "Failing to rescue him is _not_ an option. We _must-_ "

The signal died.

Sally's head shot up, her blue eyes wide. Looking for airbots. Jetships. Combots. Something that had intercepted or cancelled her signal.

Nothing.

Sally bent over Nicole and switched the channel off and on again. "Bunnie? Bunnie?"

A scrambled voice came over the phone. "Sally!...ly! I jus heard…I'll…back…ly…Rose…soon…will…back!"

The signal died once again. Sally's eyes widened.

A burning sound began to vibrate through the air.

Sally spun around, looking over her shoulder. A lone, dark jetship loomed in the distance towards the palace.

"Bunnie!" Sally's opened the channel again. "Bunnie—?"

Nothing.

Panic began to flood Sally's eyes. She gasped for air, her gaze darting over the balcony.

With a lunge, she scrambled back into her room, shutting the curtain behind her. She clutched Nicole to her face. "Bunnie? Bunnie, _they are bringing him now_ , are you in position? Bunnie, _are you in position?_ "

The thrum of the jetship nethyl packs reverberated through the passenger chamber. On the floor, a carebot and several combots knelt around Tails' still form. Eggman paced around them and the combots lining the passenger cabin, shouting out orders above the hum of the jetship.

Inside a cage latched to the floor, Sonic crouched against the cabin wall. He leaned against the corner of the bars, his body still bound with EcCord. He ducked his head against his chest, his eyes closed.

The city of Aero passed beneath them. Just visible through the window sidings lining the cabin. The palace loomed ahead.

A tear rolled down Sonic's cheek.

Here's another update! I probably shouldn't have included that last snippet-scene...My fantastic beta (Just learned what that word meant XD) mentioned that it felt unnecessary. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to clip it onto the end there just for fun. ;-) Heh-heh.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas (it's so close!). Speaking of Christmas, I didn't get to upload any Sonic Christmas chapters this year, but I just wanted to say, Retelling Sonic LOVES Christmas. He and his family heard about it through the earth radio stations and celebrated it when he was and all throughout the series, he and Tails celebrate it too. Not only because Christmas Eve is his birthday (I think Christmas Day is canon Sonic's birthday? Anyone know for sure?)...but Sonic also loves Christmas because it's one of the few seasons he and Tails could really be kids again and remember at the end of it all, Light really will drive out the evil in their world and their hearts. Its a season of Hope, and with everything going on in their kingdom, it's important to them to celebrate it. It makes them really happy and really sad all at once. So, wherever you are, if you know someone who's sad or lonely or stressed this Christmas, see what you can do to give them hope. 3

Anyway, thank you so much for reading! ;-D

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men, (And Mobians)

~Connie


	30. Punishment

On the south balcony landing of the Aero Palace, Robotnik stood, waiting. He watched the approaching passenger jetship and heaved a sigh. The tubes in his bag-like lungs expanded, then decompressed with a hiss.

The jetship hovered over the balcony, then began to descend.

Robotnik strode forward.

The jetship hummed as it let off steam and the lighted N-ethyl packs along its underbelly began to dim. As soon as the legs of the jetship secured itself on the balcony, the back peeled open.

Eggman came out first, followed by at least fifteen combots. Two of them held the hedgehog between them and another held the fox.

"All here and ready for the show, Ivo," Eggman said, crossing his arms. "You take him, and I'll stand by for phase two-"

"Get your robots and leave. I'll take over from here," Robotnik walked past him. He was going straight to the hedgehog.

The prisoner narrowed his large green eyes, meeting the robot-human's gaze head-on. He heaved for breath.

" _You_." The mecha human said.

The metal hand shot out and he snatched a handful of the hedgehog's unsheathed head spikes, yanking and twisting hard.

Sonic hissed, rage shining in his eyes. The movement wrenched him free of the combot's hands and he stumbled to the ground. Only Robotnik's hold on his head forced him upright. Robotnik's metal arm wrapped around his neck, and the hand grasped his jaw.

Robotnik pulled Sonic next to him, up close to his face and his laser-filled eyes. "You never, _ever_ dodge me, you hear me? You are _mine_. You have _always_ been _mine_ , you were born a New Mobian, your parents were New Mobians, the Queen gave you to me—you are my _pet_ , you little, destructive—rodent—I can touch you whenever and however I want-"

For a second, a flicker of confusion crossed the hedgehog's face, but his gaze remained locked on the laser-filled eyes.

Robotnik pulled Sonic closer. "That little stunt you pulled this morning, cutting one of my handwires when I tried to touch you… you thought you had gotten away with that, didn't you?"

Sonic's gaze bored into Robotnik, destruction blaring in his eyes. He barely managed to grit out the words through his locked jaw. "So you took Gramps."

With a twist of his arm, Robotnik flipped Sonic over by the headspikes, sending him spinning to the ground. Sonic hit the marble balcony floor with a shout.

" _Stop!_ " Tails screamed out, from behind them. Bandages wound around his torso and shoulders. He swayed on his feet, but his eyes were bright and his voice raw with anger. " _Stop, stop you-"_

 _"_ _Shut up, Tails!"_ Sonic screamed back.

Robotnik planted his hinged metal foot on Sonic's shoulder, pinning him to the ground. The massive human loomed over him. "There was once a time you couldn't even look me in the face—you knew how to obey-"

"Well, shame you couldn't keep me that way!" Sonic blurted with a snarl, a dare in his eyes.

Tails caught his breath.

Robotnik fisted his hand.

Sonic braced himself, stiffening.

A thud rang across the balcony as the palace doors opened. Queen Alicia stood in the threshold, dressed in full and rich scarlet, her body draped with strings of jewels and a blue ore sword at her hip. Her eyes wavered, but her hands were clenched.

Her entourage stood arrayed behind her, every one armed and bearing Mobium rings.

"Is there a problem here?" Her voice rang out over the balcony.

Sonic arched back, twisting out from beneath Robotnik's foot, and lifting his head so he could see the Queen. "Oh, yes, there is!" he shouted out, his voice still thick with rage.

"Be quiet," Robotnik snapped. His hand and fingers grew several feet longer, extenders clicking into place.

"No," Robotnik said to the queen. He wrapped his hand around Sonic and picked him up as if he weighed nothing. He held Sonic upright, but didn't let his feet touch the ground. "I was merely settling a little score with my Ringweilder before taking him to the Council. In addition to the vote, I have some serious charges to set against him."

The Queen stared. "Charges?"

"I charge him and his…his sidekick," Robotnik motioned to Tails. "Of breaking and entering into Robotropolis, and of rebellion against the pact between our entities. I want an audience with the counsel at once, so they can administer justice."

The Queen's gaze flicked to Sonic, hopelessness in her eyes.

The hedgehog stared back at her, still held in Robotnik's hand.

 _She had been going to stand up for him…but she couldn't now._

She closed her eyes. "Follow me. The council has assembled."


	31. The Ringwielder's Trial

"Rise, People's Council of Mobia, for Berthanne, High Queen of Aero, wife of King Maxmillian."

All the councilmembers rose from the seats lining the perimeter of the glass council dome. The queen strode forward like a living ruby, her dark hair piled in pools on her head, her iridescent scarlet gown and jewelry drapes flashing beneath the sunlight. Her entourage followed close behind, fanning out in a circle around her. The People's Council stood with their heads bowed.

The queen took her seat on an ancient stone structure, big enough to seat five Mobian chipmunks and set high over the rim of the People's Council ring. The ring was comprised of all seven Mobian nations and their regions. She lifted her head.

Her slight shoulders heaved as she looked out on the council. "Thank you, guardians and ministers of Mobia and our people. As your Queen, I call the attention of this meeting to an urgent matter." She paused. "A trial."

The People's Council stirred in surprise.

"A trial in which the accused holds a rank that requires the People's Council to stand as jury," the Queen finished. "Will you receive this burden, Mobia, and swear to hear, ponder and vote in faith and honesty—as you have been allowed to do under the jurisdiction of the Ruling Family this last half century?"

"Received," the council said again, bowing low. One or two whispered to each other.

"I call Dr. Ivo Nikolos to stand before this council as the Bearer of Charge…and, the Charged…I call the active Ringweilder of Mobia, known by all as 'Sonic.' Son of Lady Aleena, late Ringweilder."

Robotnik stepped into the People's Council ring and the dome. Six combots followed behind him in neat rows, hauling two bound prisoners between them—a fifteen year old blue hedgehog with red sneakers and twelve year old fox with two tails.

Sunlight flashed across the edges of Robotnik's metal body as he mock-bowed to the council. "Mobians."

Behind him, the combots thrust the two prisoners to their knees. Tails almost lost his balance, but he caught himself and stared up at the rest of the council with wide, dazed eyes. Sonic glanced up as well, then dropped his gaze to the floor, jaw still clenched.

"Dr. Nikolos, you may present your charges." Queen Berthanne said. Her voice faltered a moment.

Robotnik clasped his still-enlarged hands behind his back and strode across the Council floor. "Thank you." His red eyes gleamed. "I am not pleased, Mobia."

The council held their silence, frozen.

Everyone present felt the terror waiting to break loose on the room. Robotnik owned this council.

Tail's ears flattened back, despair registering in his eyes. He bowed his head.

Sonic crouched at the fox's side, wound in the biting ECcord. He stared at the floor, his gaze darkened. Blood caked the ECcord around his upper arms, where the combots had dragged him.

"My city, Robotropolis, is a haven." Robotnik said. "A haven from the inefficiency and oppression and decay that all races have experienced from the dawn of time. Why some people do not understand that…? I don't know. It happened on earth, so I'm not surprised it's happening here. It seems like wherever I go-" Robotnik pointed one of his long fingers at Sonic. "There is at least one ignorant, thick-headed extremist who opposes me."

Sonic did not move his head, but his gaze flicked up for a moment.

Tails didn't move.

"All I want from you," Robotnik said to the council, "Is the chance to conduct my research in a safe, isolated place." Robotnik's automated voice actually shook. "All I want is to protect what is my own...from saboteurs."

A few of the People's Council members murmured in forced understanding, still staring at the mecha-human towering before them.

"I've wondered for some time if your Ringweilder was attacking my city behind my back." Robotnik's voice was low, "He and his little mutated sidekick. My suspicions have been confirmed. I have secured footage of the both of them inside Robotropolis, breaking into one of my labs, and fighting my combots."

Queen Berthanne closed her eyes.

Murmurs ran through the dome.

"Who knows just how long they have been doing this," Robotnik said above the voices. "Instead of opposing me rationally, through law, as I'm sure any of you would have done, they went underground. Rebels of the worst sort, vandals, thieves, not to mention _trespassers_. Classic teenage stunts, it suites them, I'm afraid, but the consequences are dire."

"Sure that's what it was," Sonic hissed from behind Robotnik, his voice low and gritted.

A combot slammed his fist into the back of the prisoner's head. Sonic fell forward, gritting his teeth.

Tails looked up from beneath his forelocks, staring at Sonic.

"—Please—not here," the Queen said, her voice shaking.

The council looked up at her as if she was insane.

"-He hasn't been declared guilty yet." She finished, still averting her gaze.

"-Save your breath, Mobia," Sonic burst out, his eyes flashing as he pulled himself upright. "I'm guilty all right, 'cause you know what? I remember what this garbage can here did to my city, and I know what happens in those factories and that Roboticizer—Tails an' me know, and you can't just sit around _when you know like we do_ -"

"Shall I gag you until you are asked to speak, rodent?" Robotnik said, spinning to Sonic.

"—I broke in a lot," Sonic continued, a mad gleam in his eyes. "I've broken into Robotropolis _a lot—_ "

"—You can speak after Dr. Nikolos has finished, Sonic," Queen Berthanne said.

"Gag him," Robotnik hissed to the nearest combot.

Sonic tensed.

"N-no," Queen Alicia tried to make her voice strong. "No, don't gag him. Yet."

Robotnik glared at her.

Everyone held their breath.

"I only think-we must hear both sides in proper time," She finished, fisting and un-fisting her hands on the arms of her throne.

Robotnik's eyes brightened.

"I don't have anything else to say, your Highness." Sonic said, glaring straight at her. "I'm _done._ "

Next to Sonic, Tails' shoulders heaved.

 _They_ were done. That's what he meant.

"Oh…I see. In that case …" the Queen cleared her throat, staring at Robotnik. "Is there anything else you want to add to your charge?"

Robotnik paused. "Well. Well, do you still need to see the tape feed as evidence, seeing as this delinquent has admitted to his crimes himself?"

No one answered.

"…No, I don't think we need them," Queen Alicia finally said.

Robotnik tapped the tips of his fingers together. "Your highness… his actions go against…everything your people promised me in our truce. He is treasonous. A traitor. He has broken faith with both of us…or so I presume your people don't take his side, but how can I be certain? …Honestly, I am almost tempted to nullify the pact altogether…"

"No-" one of the council members burst out, lunging in his seat. He turned to look at the queen. "Your Highness-"

Queen Alicia stared ahead, her gaze distant and hard. She clutched the armrests of her throne with bloodless hands.

"—I say, you take the traitors and do whatever you like with them—Mobia does not condone their actions in anyway—am I right, People's council?" the council member pleaded.

All around the room, Mobians began to nod and a few grunted or applauded. The ones who didn't remained silent.

"Dr. Nikolos?" Queen Alicia said, her voice soft and heavy all at once. "How… can our people make restitution for their actions?"

"Give them to me, and I'll take care of it," Robotnik said.

"I—I think we should be completely informed before we give the official vote," Queen Alicia forced out. "—Can you…elaborate?"

Robotnik stared at her. He punctuated his words sharply. "I will do as I said I would at last night's banquet. I will take the hedgehog to Robotropolis, where I will use him as a test subject to discover the nature of his gifts."

The words pierced through the haze cloaking Tails and he raised his head. He spun to look at Sonic.

Sonic's eyes were blank, unreadable, but Tails knew better.

Robotnik continued. "When he dies…probably after three months or so-his gift will pass and you will have a new Ringweilder-"

Tails spun back to the council. "No!" he burst out, "How can you let him—? Three months-!"

"Quiet, mutate!" a council member said.

"I haven't said a single word yet, I have a right speak too, haven't I?" Tails shouted through the hot tears pooling in his eyes. He shook with rage. "Mutate or not, I don't care what you say I can't do, I will talk before I die—How could you—how _could you_ — _cowards_! While you've been too scared to put your own lives on the line, Sonic has been, and now you're going to let him kill him to save yourselves for just a little bit longer? How can you be so blind? Don't you see Robotnik going to kill all of you anyway when he's ready-?"

"Silence!" a combot barked out from where he waited behind Tails, his blaster at the ready.

Tears flooded Tails' eyes again, but he felt too sick to care.

"Brainwashed," Robotnik murmured, then turned to look down at the fox. "Besides, you won't die yet. I don't waste anything, and Julius asked to keep you for himself. He says he can utilize you in his tech lab."

Tails choked.

Hysteria flooded his eyes.

"As a slave again, that's what he means!" Tails exploded, lunging forward, his eyes blazing. "I won't go! I'd rather die! If you don't kill me, you and anyone who keeps me will regret it!—I'll destroy everything of his—and _yours, Robotnik!_ —everything that I can get my hands on—he'll _have_ to kill me-!"

"Your Highness-" a council member protested.

"Please try to contain yourself, young mutate…em, fox," Queen Alicia stood up, her eyes flashing.

"-I can't help myself!" Tails bowed his head, his face burning from his outburst. He closed his eyes against his tears, and ground his teeth together. "Sonic is the only family I have—" he snarled out. "Because Robotnik—he—took my parents—and he's taken Sonic's family too—"

The combot snatched the back of his head fur and yanked him backwards.

Tails gasped in pain, screwing his eyes shut and clutching at the floor. The combot released him and the fox staggered off balance on his knees, exhausted. They may have popped his shoulder back in and wrapped him with bandages on the way over, but he was still in critical condition.

"Tut-tut, little foxy…" Robotnik murmured, rolling his eyes. He turned, smiling at the council. "The things children have to live through sometimes when they try to act like adults." His laser eyes flashed. "What is your conclusion, Council? Are they mine…?"

The council began to speak, but Tails did not listen. He stared at the floor, trying to breathe evenly, and felt Sonic's eyes on him.

He turned his head to see a cynical frown on Sonic's mouth and a pointed gleam in his eyes. Sonic narrowed his gaze, and Tails could almost hear him speak.

 _What are you whining about over there? Seriously?_

 _This isn't over yet, kid, so you better shut up, buck up, and get ready to move fast._

Tail's blue eyes widened.

Sonic gave a slight nod, then looked straight ahead.

Tails stared.

The entire People's council rose. The Queen stood up last and folded her hands, her head bowed. "The Mobian People's Council, by majority vote, gives Dr. Ivo Nikolos the right to do whatever he desires to the current Ringweilder, known as "Sonic," Hedgehog, and his accomplice, a Mutate, Miles Prower, Fox, in restitution for their crimes against Robotropolis…and Mobia."

For a moment the queen fixed her gaze on the two prisoners. There was shame—and something else—in her eyes.

The combot hefted Tails up to his feet and he almost fell off balance. Another two began to drag up Sonic.

"I thank you for your cooperation, Mobia," Robotnik said. He turned to his combots. "Take them out to the air cruiser. I will join you in Robotropolis, tonight, so I can begin working with Sonic. The mutate will go to Julius afterwards-"

"Dr. Nikolos, Sir," Queen Alicia said, smiling. "Please stay with us a little longer. The Council has some concerns we would like your statement on."

Robotnik stopped, looking surprised.

"If you would please," she said.

Robotnik looked around at the council.

The Mobians and all their guards, servants, and attendants stared at him.

Robotnik smiled. "I think that would be perfect."

The words rang in the prisoners' ears as the combots hauled them out the doors of the council room and Robotnik shut the door behind them.

Happy New Year! You all have officially caught up with my beta, so more cliffhangers. :-P Hopefully I'll be able to update again shortly! :-)

Also, I'm on Instagram now! *explodes* I post random Sonic related (canon and retelling) kinda frequently along with other life things. If any of you guys have an IG and you'd like an extra follower, post your account name and I'll see if I can find you! Thanks again for reading. XD

a. /

~Connie/April


	32. Gag Mask

The combots hauled Sonic between them through the hallway to the landing balcony. Sonic's green eyes shone, sharp and wild, his gaze flitting over the walls around him. He struggled to breathe.

His focus had pinpointed so hard, he could only concentrate on a few inches of space at a time. The hallway felt as if it was going to collapse in on him and Tails, and swallow him up. He kept trying to breathe, trying to relax.

Behind him, another combot dragged Tails. The fox kept his head bowed, his lips pinched together.

The doors to the balcony burst open and the air cruiser was there, waiting for them.

Sonic's gaze locked on the cruiser.

A shot of panic raced through him, blinding his pain and anger.

He had to find that weak spot soon, but he just hadn't seen it yet. His gaze darted over his surroundings—looking for anything—

He glanced behind him, back where Tails stood. He glimpsed his younger brother's shoulders heave as the fox sucked up a breath.

Sonic's eyes burned. If he made one wrong move, Tails would take it and Tails couldn't take much more. The combots had done what they could to get the fox in good enough condition to appear in court, but Tails would need serious medical attention soon. Or better yet, a healing ring.

They jerked him forward.

The combots carried Sonic inside the cruiser, then dropped him to his knees on the cabin floor. Sonic winced, the ECcord slicing deeper into his burning flesh. He took a deep breath and looked up to see one of the combots opening the lid of some sort of shiny black case, big enough to be the size of a small car. The case opened up like a clam shell to reveal a velvet-lined seat on the inside…a velvet-lined seat surrounded by thick restraint straps. Tubes hung inside the lid of the case and the combot pulled free some sort of face mask…

Sonic stared at the mask, his blood running cold.

 _He'd worn that before._

One of the combots behind them carried Tails into the cruiser. It dumped the fox on the floor in a corner of the cabin several feet away from Sonic. With a soft grunt, Tails set himself upright, then looked up. He froze.

The combot adjusted the straps and tubes connected to the mask, then walked over to Sonic.

Sonic lurched back, catching his breath. He whipped his bound legs out beneath him, speed on, and dove his heels into the floor of the cruiser. His body shot back into a combot standing behind him.

At the same moment, Tails threw himself out of line of his combot's crossfire, kicking back at it with all his might. He dove towards the cockpit and scrambled beneath the control panel.

Sonic bucked, and rolled backwards, adrenaline drowning out his pain. He hit another combot in the chest with his sneakers and sent it toppling backwards.

"Sonic!" Tails' shout rang out.

Sonic used his momentum to spin into a tight roll. He whipped into the cockpit and uncurled.

"Give me your legs!" Tails poked out from a mess of wires beneath the control panel, his eyes wide with urgency. His hands were free and he held a single prong plug.

Sonic blinked.

-How Tails had gotten his hands free, where the plug came from or what it belonged to, Sonic had no idea—

That was Tails for ya, though.

Sonic thrust his body towards Tails as the fox scrambled across the cockpit floor. Tails lunged out his arm, grappling for the electric socket on the ECcord around Sonic's ankles—

Neither one saw the combot arm reel around into side of Sonic's head.

Sonic toppled forward with a shout.

Tails yelped, jerking forwards towards his brother—when a second combot hand wrapped around his face, cutting him short.

The combot hauled Tails backwards by his chained tails, away from the cockpit desk controls, and pulled him into a crushing embrace.

The combots fell over Sonic, once again their metal hands snatching onto his arms and tunic and legs and spikes and tail.

Sonic writhed and spun—if he didn't make it out now, he would never make it out—

One of the combots snatched his jaw, gripping Sonic's head still. Sonic shouted, trying to wrench free as the combot pressed the mask up against the hedgehog's face.

Sonic closed his eyes. He tried to pull his head away, he growled, he spat.

The mask latched onto his head as if it were alive, and blacked out his vision. The mouthpiece grew forward, forcing itself through his lips, between his teeth, back into his mouth. He tried to hold his breath, but he'd been fighting too hard—he needed air—

He breathed in and the foam came with it. It filled his mouth, pressed up against the back of his throat, nearly cutting off his airflow all together.

From beneath the mask, Sonic's eyes widened in terror.

He was drowning.

The nose piece pushed into his nostrils, and a sweet smell cut into his brain.

He felt his weight drop and something hard hit his back. Velvet pressed around him, but in several seconds he couldn't feel it anymore. He couldn't feel anything.

Tails tried to scream. He clawed against the heavy metal limbs crushing the life from him, but it was no use. He watched, helpless, as the combots began to strap his brother's limp body into the velvet case, the mask clinging to Sonic's face like a mechanical spider.

They closed the case as the combot dropped Tails. The fox gasped, clutching at the steel bolts on the floor. Black spots stabbed at his vision and his world reeled.

He closed his eyes.

In his heart, he begged to give up. He begged to let it all end.

 _This isn't over yet, kid,_ Sonic's voice shouted in response, blaring in his mind. _You better shut up, buck up, and get ready to move fast—_

The fox tried to push himself up, but his arms gave way beneath him. He heard the combots walk around him to the cockpit as the thrusters burned louder. Grounder and some of the combots began to leave the cruiser.

Tails screwed his eyes shut harder, feeling the vibrations of the air cruiser through the floor.

"Autopilot destination and route confirmed," the air cruiser speaker announced. "Arriving in Robotropolis in thirty minutes."

 _This isn't over yet, kid._

Tails slowly opened his eyes. Dim light burned in them.

His hands were still free. He stared across the sheet metal floor at the black case that held Sonic trapped inside, analyzing every cut and curve of the structure. His gaze fixed on a mess of cords and tubing at the back of the case.

He lunged forward—

A combot hand snatched the scruff of his neck, its metal fingers gouging into his skin, and dragged him away from the case.

Tails let out a sharp, last gasp before going limp.


	33. Marx

The moment Robotnik shut the door, the Queen rose. Her hands trembled, and she stared at the marble floor beneath Robotnik's claw-like feet.

"You have something to say to me, Mobians?" Robotnik said.

"Yes, Dr. Nikolos," the Queen said, her voice small. "I have something to ask you…"

Her entourage shifted behind her.

"This is new," Robotnik's jaw shifted into something like a smile.

"I have decided…" the Queen hesitated. "I would like you to leave."

The minute the words left her lips, the first spark of strength filled her eyes.

Robotnik stared, his round, laser-filled pupils fixed on her.

The People's Council began to stand up, looking to the queen in terror, in shock.

"I want you to leave," Queen Alicia's voice began to rise. "This is a dome of peace, its floors have never been stained with blood, and I long to keep it that way. I want you to leave this planet and my kingdom and my people—or we will all-"

The lasers in his eyes burst to life and blasted at her heart.

Her entourage thrust out their Mobium rings, the energy exploding into rippling force shields, colliding with the deadly laser beam.

Screams rang out. Rings began to hum. Swords were drawn.

The Queen pulled her sword from its sheath, tears running down her cheeks.

"I really do have miraculous timing!" Robotnik roared, his mechanized voice rising in volume, like a loud speaker turned up too high. "I knew it was time. Those of you who support me, come forward, and the rest….if you want to live at all and with any sort of dignity, this is your last chance to choose your side."

Several members of the People's Council and their entourage dropped their ring shields, letting the rings vaporize in mid-air. They strode forward, acceptance on their faces, others ran, desperate.

Robotnik's chest began to shift and morph, three massive canons emerging from his shoulders. They began to burn as he stepped backwards, towards the closed doors. "Your shields will run out within minutes, rodents." He lowered his voice. "Marx."

Here's a small update for you all! My beta mentioned to me that she did not realize other Mobians could use Mobium rings and I explained to her that, yes, other Mobians do have rings but they can only use them if Sonic has first found them and bequeathed them to them. I need to somehow find a way to explain this earlier so people won't be too confused with this scene. XD

I think that's the only big note I needed to add. All in all, thank you so much to everyone for the reviews and follows/favorites! :-D I need to majorly edit the next scene, but I'm hoping I can upload it soon and get on with the story.

Thanks!

His Grace is Sufficient,

~April/Connie


	34. Hijacker

The air cruiser chamber hummed. Eleven combots sat like a collection of buoys around the prison case. Tails lay bound and unconscious on the floor.

The cruiser had just reached full altitude.

In the hold of the ship, a dark-clad figure in a hood and mask crouched at the door to the chamber. It snapped an acid magazine into a single-shot blaster and cocked it. The figure hissed softly, gathering its breath. It closed its eyes.

 _Just do it._

Sonic might as well have been right there whispering the words himself.

The figure squared its shoulders.

Hopefully, soon he actually would be.

Back in the main chamber, only one combot noticed the hatch door slit open. Its sensory panel flickered.

The combot's arm cannon began to emerge—

The shadow's blaster spat. An acid slug shot across the chamber and exploded into the combot cannon.

The combot whipped back.

All the combots shot to life-their bodies surged to full size—

Each robot's emergency communicators turned on, trying to link their program-controlled minds with each other and Robotnik himself.

But the signal was blocked.

Their synchronization was shattered

"Dispose of disturbance. Link unsuccessful, voice commands activated, dispose of disturbance—"

Acid slugs spat through the chamber. Bursting on impact, spraying across the combots' arm cannons. Even as they tried to charged, their limbs morphed.

One combot raised its cannon. The arm cracked from its elbow down. Its tubes curled like burning grass.

"Last orders indicate in order to quell disturbance, destroy hostage."

"Understood." The combot closest snatched Tails by the scruff of the neck. It pointed its ruined blaster to his head.

The fox gasped, coming to.

The hatch smashed open.

A slight shadow sprinted into the incoming combots. A fierce shout rang through the room. It jumped over a still active cannon.

The combot spun, firing, and the attacker swerved aside. The figure scrambled over the case with a flying leap.

The combot holding Tails pumped its cannon. "Cannon unresponsive-"

The figure dove into the combot. " _Precisely!_ " a girl's voice roared out.

She grasped onto the combot with small, nimble hands, climbing fast. Fast, even for a Mobian. With one hand, she fired acid down its body. With the other, she ripped at the combot's joints with a laser knife.

The combot whirled. "Assistance! Assistance!"

The remaining combots approached. One combot raised its cannon.

The Mobian's head shot up. Her blue eyes flared behind the mask.

They shot. A white blast of energy exploded into the combot beneath her and she leapt.

Her combot whipped back against the chamber walls, its torso burned open.

Tails' body dropped from its grasp.

The figure hit the floor and rolled-she wrapped her thin arms around the fox, snatched him up and ran-a second blast hit her heels—

She charged behind the case, into the mess of the wires, dragging Tails with her.

One combot smashed its fist into the wall, over their heads.

The Mobian let out a yelp, pulling her legs in. The case swerved from the blow. But it was too heavy. The crack was too small.

They were safe. For a moment. A cannon shot still could reach them.

The shadow dropped Tails and shot to her feet. She peered over the case.

She pointed her blaster and fired point blank at an intact cannon muzzle bearing down on them. The combot pulled back.

For next minute, the two sides faced each other. A three foot Mobian with a blaster verses eleven human-sized combots.

The figure fired again and again. The combots staggered back from the force of the acid bullets. One toppled over completely, crashing into another.

Before long, the Mobian glanced at her blaster gauge.

Three slugs left.

She looked back up at the combots. Her gaze shot from them to the cargo hatch door.

She dove back behind the case and whipped a fluorescing Mobium ring from her belt.

At her knees, Tails lay on his face. His tails, arms and ankles were bound with ECcord. Blood stained the bandages wrapped around his back and shoulders. His breathing was shallow and eyes were closed.

For a second, tears rushed to the attacker's eyes.

She pushed the ring into Tails' mouth, beneath his tongue. With a quick swipe of her hand, she brushed his forelocks back from his face.

Then, she turned.

On all fours, she sprang forward. Through the wires, out from behind the case. She rolled to her feet and ran.

Across the chamber floor. To the hatch.

The combots spotted the movement. Sure enough, they started after her. Except for one, which collapsed, its sensory panel and front leg destroyed by the acid.

The Mobian slid down into the darkness of the hold. An energy bolt struck the hatch above her head, just missing her.

The combots followed. Their heat sensors flickered on.

But the cargo hold was situated next to the burning nethyl packs. In the cargo hold, everything was hot.

Their heat sensors were blinded.

One combot turned on a light from its sensory panel.

Something moved in the shadows, next to the hatch—

The combot whirled. It smashed its fist against the wall.

The figure let out a sharp yelp. She leapt out of the way and scrambled up the hatch steps.

The combots swarmed, ready to double back—

Suddenly, a crack of white light split the floor beneath them, blinding their panels.

The Mobian paused. A beam of sunlight struck across her face. She crouched on the hatch landing and gripped the rail. She held a small handheld computer.

Her eyes glittered in triumph.

The loading door to the cargo hold opened beneath the combots. The suction started. Wind whipped around the hold, rippling through the Mobian's hood. The floor dipped straight down.

And so did the combots. Into the sky and the forests of Mobia far below.

With a flourish of her hand, the figure snapped the computer shut. Her eyes seemed to smile.

 _As much as Robotnik tried, no amount of programming could outmatch survival instincts and common ingenuity._

She narrowed her eyes.

 _Or heart_ , Sonic would've added.

The figure stood up, whirled about, and ran back to the chamber, slamming the cargo hatch behind her. She raced across the floor, through the prostrate combots, back to the case and Tails.

The ring was at work. Before she'd even reached the case, Tails stirred with a grunt, lifting his head. Exhaustion and pain lingered in his young eyes, but a flicker of life had already began returning to them. He was struggling with one of the wires behind him.

"Wait! Hurry—hurry, Sonic's in the case! He's in the case—I need to cut the wires—"

The figure nearly flipped over the wires in her haste to reach the fox. She dropped next to him and flung her arms around him. "Tails!" She gasped out and wrapped her arms around him. "You're okay, you're okay now. It's okay."

Tails was shaking in her arms and his breathing was irregular.

"W-who…wha…?" His voice cracked. As if he couldn't believe it. "Sally."

"The combots are gone," the chipmunk whispered. "I'll get Sonic out. You both are safe now, Tails."

Tails let out a gasp of disbelief. His weight seemed to drop in her arms. He slumped forward as if all his muscles had given way, bowing his head, his ears flattening back.

Sally leaned over him and took his wrists, bound behind his back. She thrust the blade of her laser knife against the ECcord. Sparks flew, but she held it steady.

Tails did not move from where he lay against her, exhausted.

The ECcord snapped. Tails shoulders heaved and sagged forward. He sighed in relief.

Sally started on his ankles.

"Sally," he said. "Sonic is in the case."

"I'll open it, you get the wires back here," Sally ordered.

The cord on his ankles snapped. Tails thrust himself up on his hands with a grunt.

Sally handed him the laser knife and leapt to her feet. She wriggled out of the wires, charged to the front of the smooth black case and clutched onto the lid. She pulled.

The lid popped and released.

Sally hefted it up, grunting. She lifted it over her head. Only then did she look down into the case, her blue eyes wide.

Sonic lay strapped on his back to a reclined seat of velvet. Blood caked the EcCord around his limbs and the black gag-mask covered his face, its cords snaking through the velvet to the back of the case. The whole scene reminded her of an insect stuck into a pin cushion.

She gasped. Tears welled in her eyes.

She hesitated…then pulled her mask down with one hand, revealing her chipmunk-lined face. She blinked.

She yanked off her hood. Her messy auburn braid fell down her back.

Sally caught ahold of one of the restraints binding Sonic's ankles to the seat. She let out a shout and wrenched it out of the velvet case.

She fisted the restraint in her lithe hand…and let it fall to the floor.

Sally covered her face with her hands.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

She lowered her hands, fisting them.

She glanced back at the hedgehog. Fire began to burn in her eyes.

"Tails! Where's the electric pin for the ECcord?"

"I don't know," Tail's voice came from somewhere behind the case. "But a live wire should get enough electricity in there for it to loosen and then you can cut through it with the laser knife…"

Tails half-crawled, half-dragged himself out, pulling a coil of wire with him. He offered the wire and laser knife to her.

Sally grabbed the severed wire and screwed it down into the ECcord socket. The ECcord loosened. She began sawing at it with the knife, frowning hard.

Tails pulled himself back behind the case.

"I think I got the mask." Tails shouted, his voice weak, but triumphant.

Sure enough, the legs of Sonic's gag-mask released with a hiss.

Sally pulled the contraption off of Sonic's face and out of his mouth and nose. She stared down at his bruised cheek bones, and the foam and blood caking his lips.

The hedgehog heaved a deep breath, and began to cough. His eyelids twitched.

"Sonic-!" Sally started, her eyes flaring and voice catching.

With a lunge, she bent over him, snatching his face in both her hands. "Sonic," Sally's voice shook as the words tumbled out. "Sonic—you— _honestly_ — _you_ —just _look_ at yourself! You're alive, you silly hedgehog—!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "What did you do this time to get here, Sonic? You just had to be so brave and stupid! Honestly, Sonic, _where in the world_ were you when they were handing the brains out?"


	35. Hide and Seek

_"_ _Sonic, where were you when the brains were handed out?" Sally's nine-year old voice taunted. She chided him with her hands on her hips, her blue eyes flashing and locks of her messy red hair falling into her face._

 _They'd been playing hide and seek. And Sonic had decided to hide in an_ oven _._

 _It had seemed like a great idea at the time. I mean, who'd hide in an oven? No one hid in ovens, so it made sense that no one would look for him in one._

 _And who knows, someone might try to put food in it while he was hiding and then he could eat it—maybe even a plate of chili dogs or sumthin'…_

Strapped to the velvet seat in the air cruiser, Sonic rocked his head to the side, groaning…he made a face.

Come to think of it, he already had something in his mouth, but it wasn't very good. It tasted like _toothpaste_.

Sonic spat, hard.

Just as Sally leaned over his face.

She shot back with a loud shout, nearly tripping on her own feet and falling back.

Sonic opened his eyes, his pupils focusing. They steadied and his gaze fell on Sally.

Sally was too busy clawing the white foam from the mask off her face to notice. She wiped it on her pants and scowled.

"Sal…" Sonic murmured, and he choked on more foam. "Woah—uugh-" He gagged and tried to sit up so he could spit. "Uuch, yuck, mega-yuck-"

Sally's head shot up, her eyes wide, shining with tears.

"Sonic! What are you doing?" She blurted, rushing to him. "Do not move yet, silly, we have to get you out first, you will hurt yourself!" Her voice still shook.

Sonic's brow creased and he frowned, confused.

Sally took her laser knife and began cutting the EcCord around his arms and upper chest.

Pain registered in Sonic's eyes.

"Aagh," Sonic gasped and looked down, searching himself.

Sally grunted, cutting through a band of ECcord that wrapped around his chest and upper arms. His blood had already crusted around the cords biting through his flesh and whenever she so much as touched one, he shivered, another swell of pain creeping over his skin.

Sonic lifted his head, his green eyes wide and sharp.

 _The gag-mask filling his mouth with foam, the look on the Queen's face as they dragged him out of the council, Tails bent over the stairwell, Gramps signature on the roboticization notice, three months of Robotnik picking through his body—_

He remembered.

"Is Tails okay?" Sonic blurted, panic in his tone. "Sally, what're you doin' here-get me outta this thing," he lurched upwards.

Sally punched her hand into his chest, shoving him back, her chin raised. "Sonic, I am ordering you for once in your life, have some patience and _do not_ _move_."

"Tails was really hurt, where is he?" Sonic blurted. He didn't move, but he craned his head, trying to look out of the case. "What happened-?"

"I'm right here, Sonic."

The minute Sonic had started talking, Tails had crawled out from beneath the case. He stood to his feet and pulled himself next the case. He held a wire in his hand and he instantly began screwing it into Sonic's ECcord sockets. "Sally got me a healing ring." Tails said. "We're all okay, Sonic."

Sonic stared at Tails. Then at Sally. His gaze was blank.

He breathed out.

Sally pulled another cord free and Tails worked on, pinching his lips.

Without warning, Sonic forced his newly-released arm up and clasped onto Tail's hand.

Tails stopped and looked at him, his blue eyes bright.

Sonic cracked a smile through his swollen lips. "Just like I told you, huh?"

Tails ears flattened back and he bowed his head. He sucked up a breath of air and his shoulders began to shake as he nodded.

Tails tackled Sonic, hugging him for all he was worth.

Sonic snatched onto Tails and rested his chin against his head, clenching his jaw. He looked up at the ceiling, tears in his eyes.

Sally glanced up at them, her lips parted.

Sonic's voice was low and cracked. "They took Gramps, Tails."

Tails flinched as if hit by a physical blow. He lifted his face, his eyes hollow. "What…?"

Sally dropped her jaw, punching her fisted hands against the velvet.

Tails began to sob.

Sonic hugged him harder and clenched his fingers in the fox's fur. He bit his lip hard, anger in his eyes.

Sally lifted her chin. "When?"

"This morning. After I delivered the rings," Sonic gritted out.

Sally's eyes widened.

She turned away, wrapping her arms around herself. " _No_ ," she hissed under her breath.

Tails heaved for air. He lifted his head, his forelocks falling into his eyes. He swallowed, sitting up. "Wh-what should we do?" he asked.

"—I'll tell you what we should do," Sonic said, forcing out the words through his teeth. "You know, sometimes it takes a long time for Robotnik to roboticize a Mobian—he could still have Gramps waiting somewhere—maybe we can still find him—"

Tails nodded once, hard, tears running down his cheeks.

"Yes." Tails' voice lowered. As if he was trying to sound certain. "It's okay, Sonic. We'll find him." He wiped at his face, closing his eyes. "What matters is that we're alive and that we can even try…"

Sally turned around and strode back to the case. She wrapped her slender arms around Tails and picked him up out of the case as if he weighed little more than a baby. She lowered him to the floor, still hugging him. Tails clung to her, trying to stifle his tears.

"It is alright to cry, Tails," Sally said. Her voice caught. "People cry when they lose something they care about greatly... It is better that you love your Grampa Chuck and cry for him, then not love him and not cry for him…and..." she blinked, "And either way…this whole ordeal has been terrible and you both have borne the brunt of it all day—"

Then she stepped forward, still holding onto Tails, bent over Sonic and kissed his cheek.

Sonic's head whipped around and he stared up at her.

"I promise for myself and Bunnie and Amy, we'll help you find him." Sally knelt next to the case and grasped its edge with one hand. She wrapped her other arm around Tails. "I'll organize a search party of my finest entourage troops if I have to." Then she kissed Tail's cheek as well.

Sonic smiled at her, his green eyes shining.

Tail's sobs had quieted and now he only hiccupped. He squared his shoulders, taking deep breaths.

"…Can I sit up now, princess?" Sonic asked, a dare in his eyes.

Sally stood up, facing him, "Yes. After I cut these last cords and I give you a healing ring to help with the pain-"

"Sal, this is the first good thing that's happened to me today," Sonic said. He was smiling, but hurt still pierced his eyes. "Trust me, I'm not gonna feel a thing."

Sally gazed at him, sharpness in her blue eyes, as if she wanted to say something, but didn't know how. She snatched up her laser knife and began burning the last cord. Her soft auburn hair fell out of its braid and shadows played across the defined facial markings arching around her eyes.

Sonic watched.

"What're you doing here, Sal?" the hedgehog asked.

Sally did not look up from her work. She blew a wisp of hair out of her eyes. "Well, I think I am rescuing you two. You are my Ringweilder, and you belong to me and my family, and no one is taking you away from your work until I say they can. This planet needs you—"

"Aaaaw," the first prick of mischief returned to Sonic's eyes. " _Thanks_ , Sal."

"You are quite welcome," she quipped back.

Tails finished wiping at his eyes to watch them.

They were trying to be brave. Banter helped.

"How'd ya do it?" Sonic asked.

She looked up, her brow furrowed. "Do what?"

"Rescue us?" Sonic replied,

Sally pulled on the laser knife and the cord snapped. "I crept into the cargo hold by blinding the combot's communicators with NICOLE's frequency scrambler. I waited for you to come in, and then as the cruiser was taking off, I made it to Tails, got him to safety, and then I lured the combots into the hold. I opened the loading hatch, they fell out over the forest, and I took out the rest with the acid blaster."

Tails whistled.

"Say what-?" Sonic blinked.

"Don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself," Sally said.

"You got in here all by yourself?" Sonic smirked. "And took out, what, ten combots?"

"Well, I was pretty motivated," Sally said with a stubborn glare. She broke the last ECcord. "Bunnie was going to help, but she disappeared—something about Amy Rose. We lost connection, so that left me to infiltrate the cruiser alone. I could not just let you and Tails be punished for staying loyal to my father and me, to the Mobian people. I could not just lose you—" She cut off, pinching her lips together.

"Well…looks like you didn't do a bad job," Sonic said. He stretched his muscles, wincing. "In fact, the only other person I know who could pull off a stunt like that is me, and I would have done it faster and cooler, but still, not bad."

Sally's eyes widened and her eyebrow twitched. " _You_ would have blown up the whole air cruiser, Sonic."

"-And it would've looked _great_ ," Sonic dared.

He sat straight up, ripping free of the cut ECcord, and dove out of the case, speed on.

Sonic made it a foot before his legs collapsed beneath him. He toppled face first to the floor with a grunt of shock.

"Impressive." Sally commented, crossing her arms.

"Hey." Sonic braced himself against the floor rolled onto his back. "It takes awhile to come back to life after having your body pumped with drugs and being tied up like a ham and all that."

His tone sound fine, but he was quivering and digging his fingertips against the floor. He tried crossing one leg over the other in a devil-may-care manner, but stopped, wincing.

Sally's eyes widened and she dropped down next to the hedgehog. "You, Sonic, have way more Mobium inside you than is good for anyone." She snorted and pulled out a Mobium ring from her pocket. "And this might help jumpstart all that _power_."

"Anything you say, princess." Sonic opened his mouth.

Sally made a face, grabbed Sonic's hand and pushed the ring into it. "You can feed yourself."

Sonic rolled his eyes and popped the ring into his mouth.

As soon as he did, Sonic felt it fizz inside his mouth and waves of heat began to surge through him, melting over his pain. Goosebumps ran over him and the flesh wounds around his arms, legs and ankles began to itch.

Sharpness returned to Sonic's eyes.

Yes, I had to keep Sally's classic SatAM line. ;-)


	36. It Hadn't Been Enough

Sonic jumped to his feet, still half sucking on the ring. "That's more like it!" In a crack, he shot out of sight, into the cockpit and back, along the walls, around the case, over the ceiling—

Sally stumbled back and Tails sat up, grinning.

"Sonic, you are going to make yourself throw up!" Sally hollered.

He stopped behind her and tugged her braid. "Thanks for all the help, Sal," he said, his voice low—and he meant it.

Sally would have tried punching him in the stomach for tugging her hair, but she couldn't do it this time. She did manage a scowl though.

"Let's move, Tails!" Sonic shouted.

He dashed to the fox and before Tails could say a word, Sonic had flung his brother over his shoulder and raced him to the cockpit. He dumped Tails in the pilot's seat. "C'mon, Tails, we gotta blow this place if we want to find Gramps."

Tails stared down at the control panel, blinking. "Oh...yes…okay."

Sally dashed into the cockpit after them. "Wait!" Sally grabbed Tails' shoulder. "He was nearly dead twenty minutes ago, Sonic! You cannot just expect him to fly!"

Tails leaned over the control panel. "I had a healing ring—it's okay, and the panel is pretty standard…" His eyes gleamed as he ran his fingers over the panel, already categorizing the different switches. If he didn't know how to fly this model of cruiser, he'd figure it out one way or another. His mom had been a pilot back in the war, under Dr. Robotnik's—then Dr. Nikolos's—aviation program. Tails used to play through all the programs on her flight simulator at least once a day.

"Tails can fly anything, Sal," Sonic said.

"I know that," Sally said, crossing her arms.

Sonic paused, cocking his head and tapping his foot against the control panel siding. "Huh. I could fly." He knelt down next to Tails. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Tails blurted, pushing his hands against the control panel to turn the chair so he could face Sally and Sonic—his feet didn't even touch the floor. "Like you say, Sonic, you've gotta do whatcha gotta do." The urgency in his eyes began to pierce through the exhaustion. "I can do it—if it means finding Gram-" he stopped again, his ears flicking back hard. He pulled himself back to the control panel. "I'll need Nicole to override the autopilot though-that's the fastest way. I can use her ports and a makeshift chip-connector to access the autopilot drive."

Sally pulled the computer from a pocket inside her right boot and tossed it to Tails.

Tails caught it and scooted off the chair. He crawled under the control panel. "I think I'll need a laser knife too."

"I'll get mine." Sally turned on her heel and jumped down to the cabin floor.

"Phew, are you gonna need a whole _tool box_ here, Tails?" Sonic smirked, nudging the fox's tail with his foot.

Tails' tail whipped out and almost coiled around Sonic's ankle, but Sonic scooted back just in time.

"Man," Tails muttered.

Sonic crossed his arms and leaned against the window, grinning.

"Where did I put that," Sally's voice muttered from the main cabin. "Sonic jumped out of the case…I put the knife down…"

"Autopilot signing off," Robotnik's buzz tone sounded all around the ship. The thrusters began to slow down with a hiss.

"I got it, Sally, didn't need the knife after all!" Tails shouted, scrambling back into the oversized pilot's seat, taking ahold of the stick with one hand and laying his other over the automated, digital control panel. "The port wasn't locked. This thing is really nice…"

Sonic leaned his head out the cockpit into the main cabin. "Sal, Tails got—"

The chipmunk bent next to the case, her back to the chamber. She lifted up her head at Sonic's voice.

Metal shifted behind her.

"Sal!" Sonic barked out—

Sally whipped about, her eyes wide.

A combot lunged forward from where it had lain against wall. It slammed its fist into Sally's shoulder, throwing her across the floor like a doll.

The combot lunged over her and Sally let out a sharp yelp, trying to roll aside.

Sonic did not even have to think about turning his speed on. He was a bullet.

His body slammed into the combot feet first. It toppled backwards and a bitter smile crossed the hedgehog's face.

…That felt _good_.

Sonic whipped around Sally, snatched onto her wrist and pulled her from beneath the combot's weight. He scooped her up into his arms and she clutched onto his shoulders as he faced the combot. Its lenses were still fixed on Sally.

Sonic shot up at its jaw.

The whole combot head jolted back, the neck snapped.

The hedgehog stepped back, Sally in his arms, his gaze burning. The combot flailed for another second, its sensory panel still intact, but blinded.

Sally let out a long shaky breath, her eyes huge.

Sonic's hold tightened on her. He barely felt her weight. She was so light. She could have been crushed in a matter of seconds.

Sonic set her down. "Just a sec," he said, his gaze locked on the combot.

 _He'd had it._

Sonic exploded into the machine. It smashed back into the wall.

Sonic took a running start, and shoved the combot across the floor to the cargo hold door. He yanked it open. The loading door in the belly of the air cruiser was open, the ground whizzing past miles beneath them.

Sonic took one look and thrust the combot down the hatch steps into the hold, a bitter smirk on his face.

He didn't care to watch it fall. He needed another one. The Mobium coursed through his healing arms and legs and pounded in his chest.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted from the pilot's chair. "What's going on-!?"

Sonic charged into the remains of a "dead" combot, then pushed it too down into the hold. "Just takin' out the trash, Tails!" he shouted. "You fly!"

He spun around to the third and last combot. He heaved it into the hold with a snarl.

Sonic raised his foot to kick the door shut and froze. His gaze fell on the severed gag-mask, laying on its side where Sally had dropped it.

Sonic's eyes hardened. His focus zoomed in on the mask, every edge and curve of the structure sneering at him.

Sonic swiped up the gag-mask, his hand clawed. The hedgehog spun to the open hatch door. He ripped out a shout and hurled the mask as hard as he could, his arm a blur. Like lightning, the mask crashed into the opposite wall of cargo hold before it fell downwards.

Down, out the hatch, into the sky, a speck falling to the forest below—

Sonic slammed the hatch shut.

He turned to face Sally. His fists clenched, chest heaving.

Sally stood where he had set her down, watching with wide eyes.

Sonic shrugged and ran a hand through his head spikes. He ambled back over to the cockpit.

Sally followed him with her gaze as he passed, silent. She blinked.

When Sonic was quiet…that's when he was really, actually mad.

Sonic stepped into the cockpit, letting out a deep breath.

"All cleared?" Tails asked, his gaze fixed on the horizon.

"Yep," Sonic said, leaning back against the wall again.

Sally stepped back into the cockpit. She shrugged her slight shoulders, as if trying to make herself as small as possible, and scooted next to Sonic.

The hedgehog and chipmunk both stared out the wide air cruiser window at the horizon beyond.

Even though Tails was turning them around, they could still see Robotropolis. The city sprawled across the ground beneath them, wafting a halo of dark chemical fumes into the sky. From their height, the city looked like a mangled growth, its skyline jagged and oozing out into the surrounding landscape.

Sonic swallowed and bowed his head, digging his hands into the pockets of his tunic. He tapped his foot.

Sally carefully put her small hand on his arm.

Sonic flinched and stopped tapping. He whirled to look over his shoulder.

Sally stared at him, her blue eyes wide, messy tendrils of her auburn hair falling out of its braid.

Sonic glanced away again, face still set…but his muscles had relaxed beneath her hand.

She was wise enough to know not to speak.

Sonic forced a smirk. "I'm used to this type of thing, Sal. I'll handle it. We hedgehogs aren't easy to bust open."

Sally arched her eyebrows.

"How long 'til we get back to Aero, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Twenty five minutes," Tails reported, his gaze still locked on the panel.

Sonic's gaze stayed fixed on the horizon over Capitol Aero. He narrowed his eyes and his ears cocked.

"Wait…wait, what's that?" Tails blurted, pushing himself up higher in his seat, his eyes huge. He almost scrambled onto the dashboard. "That light—Sonic!—what's that light?"

Flashes burned on the horizon over Capitol Aero.

"You've gotta be kidding," Sonic hissed, pressing against the window.

"What's what?" Sally blurted, jumping in front of Sonic and pushing up on her toes.

Sonic snatched Sally's arm. "Wait, Sal!"

Pure terror flooded Tail's face. "Sonic."

Sonic whipped around to face his brother.

Tails gripped the controls for all he was worth. "It's…it's the missiles. It's the missiles, Sonic! We're too late! I should have told you the minute we got out—I—I—!"

"Tails!" Sally whirled to face the fox, panic beginning to rise in her eyes. "Tails, what are you talking about? Talk! Right now! What missiles?"

Tails' turned his attention away long enough from the cockpit controls enough to meet Sally's gaze. "The missiles that Eggman programmed for Robotnik to set off at any time he chose—I tried to destroy them, but…" He looked past Sally to Sonic, hunching over the controls in shame. "I gave up trying to tell you—we were going to die—"

Sally turned back to the window, her eyes wild. Sonic's hands had fisted. His head spikes began to unsheathe. "No way," he half hissed to himself, his green eyes flashing.

"I tried to tell you to escape so you could fight!" Tails blurted. "This is my fault—you would be there right now if you had just let them—!"

"Tails!" Sonic marched over and snatched the back of the cockpit seat. "Shut up and you keep it together, and you fly this thing back there as fast as you can, you hear me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry—" Tails choked out. He yanked over to a side panel on the wall, pulling down a series of digital levers. "I'll go as fast as I can—I'll try—"

"Just be quiet and fly!" Sonic ordered.

The hedgehog spun back to the window, his gaze riveted on the horizon.

Sally fists clenched and unclenched against the glass and she breathed hard. She didn't make a noise.

They had done everything they could to keep this from happening. Sonic had delivered the rings. Sally had waited until after the trial to rescue him.

 _But it hadn't been enough. Death was coming to Aero._

"Sally, it's okay, we're going back right now!" Sonic said.

"Hurry." she gasped.


	37. Aero

The air cruiser ripped through the sky like a bullet, the whole structure shuddering.

Sonic leaned forward in his seat, against the air pressure, straining to get a glimpse of Capitol Aero. Fire reflected in his green, burning eyes.

He couldn't tear his gaze away, couldn't pretend he didn't see the masses of air cruisers streaming over the city or the billows of smoke rising from the forest.

This was it, right in front of him. The day he'd known would come ever since Robotnik made his first raid on Old Mobia. And all his friends and all the people he'd tried to protect were down there.

Next to him, Sally clutched the arms of her chair, her teeth clenched and body stiff. She looked as if she was going to die.

In front of them, Tail guided the air cruiser with his jaw clenched hard, his eyes blank with shock and horror. Stripes of blood ran across the bandages around his back.

"How soon, Tails!" Sonic blurted.

"Soon!" Tails replied.

"I need to get out," Sally said, barely able to form the words. Her lips looked blue.

Sonic clawed his hand deeper into the seat.

The flashes continued to burst out over the city—they could hear the rumble of explosions now.

Sonic's heart pounded in his chest. He fisted his hands, wincing—

 _The apartment walls crashed and burned outside the school windows._

 _"_ _Let me go! Let me go!" His throat burned as he screamed, shouting at the machines as they tried to tear him back and pull him away with the rest of the school children. "I need to go fight—I need find my family—_ my family lives there _!"_

Sonic shivered.

The three stared. They could make out the palace cliff now through the smoke. Its defining towers were gone—including Sally's tower.

Sally began to writhe in her seat. She barely whispered to herself, "No, Mama, no, no-"

Sonic snatched onto her fisted hand. "Tails, head for the palace and lower her down. Sally and I are going in from the ground-"

"G-got it. I'll try to take out as many of these missiles as I can—" Tails said. The cruiser nosed downwards, pointed straight towards the palace.

Sonic lurched forward, "What, you kidding me, Tails—you can't stay here all by—"

Resolve lodged in the fox's gaze. "They're dying down there," he gritted out, kicking back a lever on the floor. A large control panel unfolded from the wall—the missile scope and radar. "And it's because I didn't stop those missiles and let them use me to catch you. We can't waste time—I'll be fine."

Sonic didn't have time to punch him or talk. "Sure, sure, you'll be fine, whatever! Just get the jet down!" Sonic whirled to face Sally.

She stared up at him with wide, frozen eyes.

"Get up, Sally, hold onto me," he ordered. Sonic took her wrists and pulled her free from the chair. Sally clung to the shoulder of his tunic with cold hands, fighting against the pressure of the ship as it dipped.

"Sonic, I'm s-so afr-fraid," she could hardly speak. All her training and poise was shattered. She was just a little girl again—a terrified little girl. "What am I going to see-?"

"Don't think about it!" the hedgehog spat out. "Just don't think about it!"

"I can't _do that!_ " her voice rose into a scream.

Sonic snatched her shoulders as if he could somehow hold her together. "You can stay here, with Tails, and I'll go in—I'll come back and tell you what I found-!"

"No, no," she gasped out, shaking her head as hard as she could. "I—I have to know, I can't wait!"

"Then hang onto me, and don't let go," Sonic said.

She hurled her slight arms around his neck and he lifted her into his arms. He gripped her hard as he half crawled, half slid back into the main cabin of the cruiser.

"Goodbye, Sonic!" Tails suddenly shouted.

"I'll be back, Tails!" Sonic called.

Sonic flung open the cargo hold hatch and stared down at the landing door, opening down into the sky. The rooftops and treetops of the gutted, burning city raced beneath them. They were getting closer to the palace.

The two stared at the ground racing beneath them.

Sonic's vision sharpened.

Beneath them, the city disappeared in an instant. The palace cliffs shot into view and they were now flying over one of the marble balconies only yards beneath them.

"—Sonic-!" Sally shouted.

"Hold your breath!" Sonic yelled.

Speed cracked through Sonic's body. He barely felt his feet leave the cargo hold before they were falling and he was unsheathing his spikes, preparing to hit the marble stone below-

He could feel the second that the toe of his shoe made contact with the ground, and he ran. He ran through the impact, the pain jolting through his body and he dropped down, curling around Sally and shielding her as he rolled. Before his speed died, he uncurled, rolled onto his sneakers, and he began to run.

Above them, Tails' air cruisier curved overhead in the opposite direction.

Sally breathed hard, still hanging on.

Sonic dashed through the nearest arches, into the shuddering palace, heading towards the People's Council Dome.


	38. In the Dome

Sonic jammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt before the remains of the People's Council Dome.

The glass roof was gone.

Sonic set Sally down. She stumbled to her feet, lunging toward the doors.

"Wait—no—Sal!" Sonic dashed between her and that room, hands outstretched. "Stay right here—I'll tell you if she's in there."

Sally froze. She nodded once.

Sonic turned, fisting his hands. He stepped into the dome, explosions blaring in the distance.

He stopped, stiffening

The hedgehog stood alone. His gaze roved across the room and fixed on the fragmented remains of the Mobians strewn across the floor.

The thrones where the council ring had sat lay on their sides, burned and smashed. Glass from the dome roof covered the floor, half burying the bodies below.

Sonic sucked up a deep breath and began to march.

He recognized a few faces. Council members. At least nine of them. That was all. That meant over two thirds of them were missing.

Sonic glared across the room and his gaze locked on the red-lined fringe of a gown, half-buried underneath the stones and glass. He strode over the blackened, cracked floor, past a small ring of fallen guards, and yanked the rubble off of what was left of her body. Burns from blast shots covered her front and a slew of bullet holes slashed from her neck to her side.

In her fist, she clenched a scorched blue ore sword, glowing faintly in the dust.

Sonic stared.

He struck his hand over his face.

For a moment, Sonic crouched there, unable to move. He fisted and re-fisted his hands, shaking his head. He let out a deep, shaky breath, his shoulders heaving.

Sonic pushed up to his feet, lowering his hand. He turned and ran back across the floor, keeping his head down.

"Sonic?" Sally cried.

Sonic's head came up and he looked at her.

Sally stood in the shattered doorway, feet apart, panting and clenching and unclenching her hands. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"She's there, Sally-" Sonic ran to her, the words spilling out. "I'm so sorry, Sal—I'm so sorry, Sal—"

She covered her mouth with her hands, stumbling into him.

Sonic caught her wrist. "Wait-you don't have to see it-She doesn't look like herself, its bad—"

Sally pushed at him, shaking with suppressed sobs. "Let go," she hissed, gripping his arms. Her voice sounded hoarse. "I am the princess of the royal house, protector of Mobia—Princesses cannot be afraid…," she gulped, "Cannot be afraid to see anything-she is my _mother-"_ She bowed her head, choking on the words.

Sonic turned away. He ran his hands over his face and through his head spikes.

Sally breathed hard. She lifted her face, her eyes hollow. "Take me to her."

Sonic bowed his head and turned.

He had to obey her. Tails could do more for the city in the cruiser than he could on foot right now, and—and it was just the least he could do.

He took her arm and guided her over the blackened stone and glass. Sally strode next to him, stiff as a board beneath his touch, her hands clenched like a rocks. She kept her head raised.

Sonic stopped a few feet before her mother's body. "Here."

But Sally kept her head raised, her hair falling over her face out of its braid. She did not move.

Sonic waited. Another missile screamed and cracked somewhere in the distance. He ground the heel of his shoe into the floor.

Sally lowered her gaze, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

She stared.

She inched her way down to the ground, down to her knees, over the queen.

"Mama," she whispered, her voice breaking. " _Mama-_ "

Sally shattered and Sonic watched the wave of grief lurch through her body.

She pitched forward, sobbing.

Sonic turned around fast, crossing his arms hard across his chest. He watched the sky.

Sally ground her hands into the ash and glass on the ground beneath her, bent double. "It's not your fault," her voice constricted. "It's not your fault… it's not your fault…Y-you tried…" She covered her face, a strangled squeak breaking free.

Air cruisers shot over the dome above them—

Sonic started, dropping to all fours.

Sally didn't hear.

Sonic turned back around to face Sally. He crept towards her, as if each step he took might shatter the ground beneath him. He extended his hands, taking her by the shoulders from behind.

The minute he touched her, she whirled around, clasping onto him as if she would never let go, her clawed hands digging into his back. "Sonic—," she gasped out, "Sonic—"

Sonic screwed his eyes shut.

She didn't know what to say, but he got that.

"Oh man, Sal," He blurted. He flung his arms around her and held on tight, rocking with her. "I'm sorry, Sal, I'm so sorry," he said, pressing his face against her hair. "She's not there, Sal. She's not hurting or scared or sad or anything. She-she wouldn'ta wanted to live to see all this anyway—"

Sally sobbed on his shoulder, heaving.

Two more air cruisers shot overhead.

Sonic tensed and his eyes widened.

"Sonic, what am I going to do?" Sally whispered.

"-Sally, we've gotta get out of here, okay?" Sonic forced out. "There's a lot of people out there—and we need to go."

A missile began to scream nearby.

She pulled back, stumbling away from him. "He must die—he must be completely, utterly, _entirely destroyed_."

"Sal!" Sonic barked.

A missile shot past the dome into the wall of the palace. The structure exploded, dust and debris shooting over them. Stone tumbled down the cliff side.

Sally showed no notice. She curled her fist around her mother's hand and the hilt of the sword. She twisted it free, and snatched the hilt to her chest. "She died fighting, Sonic, I'm so proud of her—she _tried_ -"

Sonic snatched onto Sally arms, hoisting her up. "I think they sense us—we've got to get out of here-!" He glanced up again, scouring the skies.

Sally spun to him her eyes wide, hysterical. She clutched his shoulders. "-Sonic, no—I can't just leave her—we have to take her with us—she needs to be buried with honor—she's a _queen!_ "

"Sally-" Sonic began backing up, his spikes unsheathing and gaze sharpening.

A hum began to fill the air.

"She's going to have her own tomb soon enough—they all are," Sonic said, yanking Sally off her feet.

Sally did not have a chance to fight. He whipped his speed on and raced out of the dome, through the doors, past a toppling hallway.

Missiles exploded behind them, and the palace groaned.

Well, here's the next batch! Thanks for reading! Things are finally starting to happen...

~April/Connie


	39. Home

Tails' eyes burned, his movements sharp. He jerked his hand down across the control panel, swerving to the left.

The cockpit window revealed a sky full of air cruisers, filtering in and out of the smoke. Tails could barely see the city beneath, but he didn't have to see it to know they were too late.

Back at the tech lab, he had almost touched the missiles himself. He had known what Eggman meant when he said this planet was full of lab rats. Too many lab rats.

But he still could not believe it.

The scope on the radar sighted on a nearest cruiser. Tails growled as he swiped the trigger lock on the machine gun panel screen.

It did not matter whether he believed it or not. He had to fight.

He stared at the panel screen. He had fifteen rounds of shot.

The machine gun and loading barrels had been built into a retractable compartment at the nose of the cruiser. The cruiser was rigged to fuse a new round of two inch thick, ten-inch long chemical alloy bullets every ten minutes.

Tails' brow furrowed. Perfect for taking out the N-ethyl packs burning beneath the air cruisers.

He sucked up a breath and with a sharp grunt, twisted the stick forward as sharp as he could.

The thrusters angled. Two of the "gills" on the port side of the cruiser retracted.

Tail's stomach churned as the nose of the cruiser dipped down as if it was trying to complete a handstand.

He dove.

Tails ground the heels of his shoes against the control panel to brace himself, gritting his teeth against the pressure.

He brought her back up. The cruiser arced, straight up.

Tails stared up at the belly of an autopilot air cruiser above him.

With a shout, he yanked the trigger launch and felt the machine gun kick beneath the cockpit floor. The first round of blasts exploded into the n-ethyl packs of the enemy cruiser—

The sound was terrible. Green fire, fused out across the sky, like burning liquid. Tails jolted, as if struck.

Tails swerved, shooting around the flying debris and past his target, straight up into the sky.

The explosion had shaken him loose. Something inside him began to leak.

His home…was _gone._

And he hadn't been able to stop it.


	40. Rupturing

Sonic ran, the palace of Capitol Aero rupturing behind them.

The heat of explosions scorched at his back, the missiles screamed, air cruisers buzzed overhead, all narrowing down on him, closing in…

His muscles burned and he stretched his legs farther, leaning low to the ground, gathering Sally closer.

Sonic shot over the edge of a balcony and hit the ground below running—

He had to get off of this cliff—he had to get underground—he had to keep Sally alive— _he had to get her out of here so he could find the others—_

Sonic dove under a half-fallen street arch—then screeched to a halt. The street passage had caved in, blocking the entrance.

Sonic pushed beneath a stone overhang. He gritted his teeth and bent over Sally, covering her head, his ears cocked as he listened to the air cruisers race overhead. Sally clutched his tunic with one hand and the sword with the other. She stared out from beneath Sonic, her blue eyes wide, her auburn hair falling over half her face.

The cruisers passed.

Sonic fell backwards, letting his head hit the wall. He uncurled his arms from around Sally and arched his back. His screwed his eyes shut, sucking in gasps of air.

Sally lifted her head. She scooted forward to the edge of the overhang, crouching on her knees, and looked back towards her destroyed home. She stared with wide, hollow eyes.

Sonic rolled his shoulders. He dropped down next to her in the dirt, his muscles taut.

He didn't make a sound, but tears rolled down his cheeks.

He'd never wanted to see this again.

Sonic slammed the heel of his hand against the ground, letting out a sharp grunt. He heaved up another breath and grit his teeth.

Sally did not move. She opened her mouth, then shut it.

The two crouched there in silence for several seconds.

Then they heard the air cruisers coming back. They lifted their heads.

The hedgehog scooped Sally back up. "C'mon, Sal," he said, "We're almost out."

As he stood to his feet, his ears flicked back. A soft thrum reverberated through their overhang.

Sonic whirled around and saw three Mobium rings hovering and pulsing in midair over the blocked street entrance.

His eyes brightened. He snatched them up and shoved them into his pocket.


	41. Air Race

Tails breathed hard, bracing his body against the back of the cockpit seat. Radar warnings blasted around him throughout the ship.

Three of them. They had guns.

Tails had managed to shoot down six air cruisers before they caught on to the fact that he wasn't one of them. Robotnik's programming was getting better.

He arched the cruiser upward, curving overhead so his enemies would be within the nose gun's range.

Tails made a face. Who in their right mind would not build a rearguard gun into a cruiser's defense system? He had to reposition himself every time he made a shot and it wasted precious time—

Probably because Robotnik had built the cruisers to fire down on people running away, not the other way around.

Bullet fire crashed into the port side, from up above him.

Tails yelped, looking upwards.

A fourth alert appeared on the radar, above him.

Tails spun his cruiser, shooting downwards at a diagonal, wincing.

He glimpsed his target below, already adjusting for his position. Tails fired at its rear thrusters. The cruiser lurched, hit, but not destroyed.

Tails dove again, just missing fire from a third cruiser.

His cruiser jumped out of course, just barely out of sync—the shot must have hit one of his gills.

Tails grit his teeth. He righted, swooping just over the edge of the city—

And then Tails saw the cluster of air cruisers bearing down on a figure below-a blue blur streaking across the city outskirts, towards the forest.

The cruisers could shoot Sonic easily from that height.

"Coming, Sonic!" Tails shouted, and he shot the cruiser into overdrive, swerving down towards the blur.

Below on the ground, Sonic dodged, a stream of bullets approaching behind him. Dirt spat at his heels, stinging his back as the bullets thudded into the ground.

He charged over the remains of a pleasure house, weaving around the pillars.

A wall exploded next to him and he shot through the falling rock.

Sally screamed in his arms.

"Woah!" he blurted and his whole body jolted in mid-run.

He was running out of juice. If he pushed any harder, he'd snap, if he ran any slower, he'd toast.

He'd rather snap.

Sonic fixed his gaze on the tree line outside of Aero.

"C'mon, Sonic!" he ordered to himself.

Sonic's Speed reverberated through his body. A sonic boom cracked behind him.

Pain raked through his gut, up his lungs into his throat.

Sonic snatched for his first ring, ready to put up a Mobium shield—

And behind him, the closest air cruiser exploded in midair.

The hedgehog gasped, nearly tripping. He darted a glance back over his shoulder.

One lone air cruiser whipped straight towards the remaining five cruisers, head on, bullets spewing from its nose gun.

 _Tails._

Sonic smirked.

He hit the tree line.

Up above, Tails flipped the cruiser, preparing round fifteen of his shot. He growled hard and yanked back on the trigger control.

The gun fired and the bullets slammed into the incoming air cruisers. He'd hit at least two of them—one whirled back entirely, its N-ethyl packs leaking, spinning to the ground.

Tails took a breath.

And the alarm went off on his radar.

He turned his head and heard the missile screaming.

Bullets slammed into the belly of his cruiser. The whole craft lurched, spinning and flipping backwards.

Tails yelped, snatching the control board for dear life.

The ground spiraled miles below.

Sonic raced from tree to tree, deeper into the forest. The trees would blind their location for a matter of seconds, but it was enough.

Sonic's gaze fixed on a rock out-cropping at the base of an embankment. He caught his breath.

He shot over the rock outcropping, into the cave and skidded to a stop, dirt spewing out around him in a dust cloud. "There's a cave entrance here, Sal, get to the Underground! I'm going back for Tails!"

He dumped Sally out of his arms, wheeled around and whipped out of the cave.

Sally caught her balance, breathing hard. For a second she stared after him, panic bolting through her eyes. Then she glanced over her shoulder and stumbled towards the back of the cave.

Tails knew the controls were useless, but he kept trying, desperation in his eyes.

The cruiser was dying.

And he had seven enemy cruisers on his tail—the ones chasing him and the one chasing Sonic-plus a missile.

"Don't lose your head, Tails!" he burst out to himself, trying to swerve the cruiser, and failing.

Something exploded at the end of the craft.

He ripped off his safety belt and shot out of the cockpit seat, half running, half flying with his tails through the whirling, falling cabin.

Below him, Sonic watched the missile strike the falling air cruiser, his eyes growing wide.

He ran faster.

The cruiser exploded. Mangled debris twisted free and crashed over the forest below.

Enemy cruisers shot overhead.

Sonic's vision sharpened, his heightened senses fixing on an orange spec diving down towards the ground.

He smirked.

In the sky, Tails closed his eyes, tumbling and spinning through the air, pressure burning against his body. He didn't know how hurt he was, and he didn't care.

The fox wound his tails together and whipped them free again, propelling as hard as he could. He opened his eyes.

The remains of his cruiser struck the ground below with a crash. Not far from the site, a blue hedgehog charged into view.

"Sonic!" Tails screamed for all he was worth, his eyes lighting up.

Sonic stared up at Tails, tapping his foot hard.

The air cruisers began to circle, roaring overhead.

The fox half dove, half propelled to the earth, fighting for breath.

Before Tails was a foot over Sonic's head, Sonic leapt up and snatched the fox into his arms.

"Nice blow up!" Sonic shouted. He tossed the fox over his shoulder and charged back towards the rock out cropping.


	42. Rings and Blasters

Sonic dove into the cave, hurtling to the ground. An explosion hit the entrance behind him and Sonic and Tails both shouted.

"Their radars shouldn't sense us in here!" Tails blurted, clambering off of Sonic's head.

"Tell that to them!" Sonic leapt to his feet.

"Sonic! Aero-Sally?" Tails blurted.

"It's bad," Sonic answered. "We've got to get back there—"

A second explosion hit at the mouth of the cave. Rock shards flew over them and Sonic shoved Tails back.

The fox scrambled forward, nearly tripping on his tails. Sonic ran past him to the back of the cave.

Sally faced a large stone at the end of the cave, tugging at it.

Sonic stopped next to her, "It's covered?"

Sally breathed hard. She had already dug her finger tips into a crevice in the rock. She clawed and pulled with all her might. Tears stained her cheeks and she let out a growl-whimper. "Yes—it can come loose-"

Sonic gouged his fingers into the crevice and began to pull with her. He grunted, heaving back. "You sure?"

Tails slid next to him. "It's moving!"

"Good!" Sonic's eyes lit up, "Come on, Tails, pull all together and pull hard!—one—two—heave!"

The three of them strained, pulling, and the stone rocked forwards.

"Fire."

Sonic whipped around, releasing his hold on the stone.

Combots stood at the mouth of the cave, their blasters readying in unison.

Sonic's pupils contracted.

Everything in his body screamed to run.

He didn't think.

He threw his body over Sally, and he thrust his hand forward, bracing a Mobium ring in midair.

The combot blaster muzzles lit up. Streaks of scorching energy exploded towards them.

The Mobium from his ring shot out, a single stream of golden light. It surged forward and rippled out in waves, arching into a translucent, pulsing shield.

The blasts and the ring shield collided.

The cave shook.

Sonic stared at the blasts bursting into his shield, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. He felt Sally's heart pounding against his shoulder and her panicked breathing against his ear.

He lunged forward, the force of the ring whipping back into his face and prying at his fingertips. He held the ring steady. His spikes unsheathed and he crouched, pressing towards the combots behind the shield. "Get outta here!" he roared, his voice ripping through the cave.

He clawed out the second ring, his eyes blazing, and with cry of fury, he thrust it forward and launched it through his shield.

In mid-air, the second ring morphed and twisted into a white-hot bullet of energy, streaming into the midst of the combots.

It blew up, tearing through their metal bodies.

Debris slammed against his shield and he snarled, holding it steady.

The dust began to thin. Sonic narrowed his gaze, staring through the shield.

Behind him, Sally and Tails crouched, their eyes wide.

White light pierced into the darkness from the cleared cave entrance.

Sonic held his breath.

Through the dust, outlines of the next troop of combots began materialize.

Sonic took a heavy breath. A shudder ran through his shoulders.

"I didn't know the cruisers were run by combots, I thought they were autopilot!" Tails burst out, his voice shaking.

"Tails, help me!" Sally shouted. "We've got to make it past this boulder—they can't follow us, they're too big. Unless they blow their way through!"

"The Underground is our territory!" Sonic shouted, his eyes still alight. "They'll never find you once you're in! You two better pull fast, this ring has only two minutes left, and I've only got one more after that. After that, I've got to get back to Aero—."

"You—Sonic, you have another ring?" Tails blurted. The fox scrambled next to him. "Can we blow through-"

"-It's a shield ring!" Sonic snapped.

Tails paused, frowning. "A shield ring." His eyes lit up. "I have an idea."

"Take it," Sonic said, pulling the last ring from his belt with his free hand. He closed his eyes for a moment, running his thumb over the ring.

The ring pulsed in his hand, accepting his bequeath.

Tails took it, his face set. He half-ran, half propelled his way to the edge of the shield.

"Tails, where are you going?" Sally shouted after him, staggering forward.

"It's okay, Sal," Sonic moved the shield a few feet and Tails ducked through, putting up his own ring shield. Tails ran towards the combots and the second round of blasts started.

Sonic watched the blast-shots smash harmlessly into Tail's shield.

 _C'mon little guy, you better have a good one for us…_

The combots turned their attention away from the fox back to Sonic.

"Override orders received, Nikolos. Annihilation suspended. Take them alive."

Instead of blasts, streams of smoke spewed out from the blaster muzzles.

Sonic caught his breath and his eyes narrowed...

Wait. Not smoke. Gas.

Sonic glared hard and switched both hands to stabilizing the ring. He broadened his shield trying to push it against the edges of the cave, into all the crags along the wall. "Hey, Sally, try not to breathe unless you have to…"

Sally cast a stricken look over her shoulder. Her eyes widened.

She dashed about and lugged up a rock from the ground.


	43. The Shield Breaks

The six air cruisers had landed outside the cave, their noses pointed straight into the cave entrance. Probably so they could all shoot.

Tails swallowed as he ran, charging through and around the combots, between the cruisers. His heart pounded and he whipped his tails together.

He hovered towards the remains of the closest cruiser, mentally wrapping the ring shield around his whole body. The combot blasts ricocheted off the energy field behind him. At least half the combots were following him.

The minute Tails reached the first cruiser, he dove beneath its underbelly, past its burning nethyl packs, and began ripping at the maintenance door to the nose of the cruiser…and the machine gun compartment.

 _Please shoot, please, please still shoot._

The knockout gas crept over the fading edges of Sonic's shield.

Sonic had tried pushing forward, hoping he could somehow force the combots back with his shield. But it flickered too much. The more he spread it out, the thinner it got and the shorter it lasted. He could have tried taking Sally and running again, but then the combots would just follow in the cruisers.

He grit his teeth. It was a now or never deal. His best bet was to stay put and hope Tails once again knew what he was doing.

Sally had lodged as many flat rocks into the crevice as she could, like a series of levers. She pushed and pulled on them and bit by bit the stone block began to pull free from the wall.

Sonic coughed. The shield thinned and gas billowed through the edges. The ring's glow dimmed.

Sonic made a face. An acrid taste hit the back of his mouth and tiny black spots started to stab at his vision.

"How's it goin'?" He blurted.

Sally breathed hard behind him. "It's—it's-"

"When this thing goes down, I'm going to pull with you as hard as I can, okay?" Sonic said. He wrinkled his brow. It was hard to talk. "You got that, Sal?"

"Yes…yes, I do," she grunted.

Sonic pinched his lips together. She sounded spacey.

The taste of the gas pressed into his consciousness, seeping into his pores, trying to smother him.

"Blech," Sonic spat, dropping his head.

He blinked. The next thing he knew, his knees hit the ground.

Sonic gasped, shaking his head. He crouched against the rocks covering the cave floor, gritting his teeth. He coughed hard and forced a cynical smirk.

C'mon, being put under twice in one day? That just _stunk_.

"Sonic!" Sally's voice mumbled over him. "Don't let the shield fall!" Her weight dropped against his backspikes and her arms slipped around his waist. Something, probably her, tried to pull him back to his feet, but then she fell next to him.

The two of them sat, braced against each other. Sally started crying again.

Sonic tried to pat her back. "Shh, shh," his voice slurred.

He was still holding the ring, right?

He checked and saw Sally gripping his arm, trying to hold it up, trying to steady the ring. She was off balance, they both were.

The ring evaporated before their eyes. The shield broke.

Gas cloaked the room.

Sally's head slumped against his shoulder.

Behind the gas, combots marched, coming closer.

Sonic gazed at them, his eyes glassy. _Oh, yeah…_ He had to run.

Sonic tried to get up, but he made a face. He couldn't feel his legs. That should have scared him, but it didn't.

He was tired.

Where was Tails?

"Thanks for trying, Sonic," Sally mumbled.

"Hey…no…prob…," he said.

He'd always liked her.

Shadows of the combots approached through the gas. Sonic's ears flicked up, listening to their footsteps grinding across the cave floor, towards them.

For a second, clarity shot through Sonic's eyes.

They were going to kill her.

Sonic lay back, pushing his body over Sally. She didn't move beneath him. He stared up at the cave ceiling and frowned at it, clenching his fists. His chest heaved as he sucked in a last breath-

And the world swirled before his eyes. Somewhere at the center of the swirl, a blurred shadow loomed over him. He tried to speak, but his mouth couldn't move. A long arm extended towards him and cold metal seized his throat. The muzzle of a blaster pressed against his temple.

Something blew up…

…And the swirl closed in on itself, blacking out the world.


	44. Greetings, Mobia

"Greetings, Mobia, Mobians, planet Marto. Today is a revolutionary day in the history of your universe."

Across the entire planet, in villages, town squares, cities-wherever Dr. Nikolos had planted a television screen, Mobians stopped and listened.

"I have hand-chosen you to be the first civilization to undergo complete roboticization, and thus, immortality.

"But allow me to introduce myself, though hopefully most of you should know me by now. I am Dr. Ivo Nikolos, human, scientist, theorist. Today, I take on a new title…that of Head of Affairs and Orchestration in Marto. President. King. Commander in Chief. Dictator. Whatever title suites your fancy. The bottom line is, I will now be in charge of conforming this planet to its utmost potential.

"In order to attain this new title…I had to take measures into my own hands…" He paused. When he began speaking again, his voice was set. "Let's be honest with each other. After all, I have spent years speaking in circles around your Queen and People's Council, and I'm tired of it. You people don't know what's good for you. The humans didn't know it back on earth, and you animals didn't know it here either. But I could not allow that to stop me this time."

Footage began to flash across the screens. Images of the burning Capital Aero, the lines of combots marching in, the shattered Capitol…

"My vision is proceeding as planned. As you can see, I am now in full command of your capital. Your Queen is dead. Those members of the People's Council who sided with her as well. Look well upon them. This is the sort of death that meets those who stand in my way. As for the ones who don't? Far over half of your People's Council have chosen to serve me faithfully. A wise move on their part. They will receive positions of great prominence in my utopia, so long as they continue serving me and the kaisers I set over them.

"Now…how will this impact you, you are probably wondering? I needn't overwhelm you with details. But I will try to give you a small picture of what I need you to do over these next years together.

"I need citizens for my new civilization. Volunteers will get first consideration, but some of you will be chosen because you would make an ideal candidate. If you are remarkable in some way, then you have a chance of being accepted. However, slots are limited and this planet has a surplus population. For that reason, there will be an extended sorting process, during which my combots will categorize you based on programmed criteria.

"Also, as I mentioned earlier, I am bringing more of my own race to this planet. They are people who have supported my endeavors on my home world, earth, and I have promised them portions of this planet. I have already made the divisions, and over time they will begin to arrive. I trust that you will not cause them trouble and that you will obey them.

"Again, simply being honest, any life I allow you is a mercy at this stage, so I want no ingratitude. I hate waste, so I decided against taking the simpler depopulation route and exterminating the subgrades among you all at once. It will be a process, and as the process is carried out, I expect you to be compliant, cooperative and patient. I will be watching you, and those who behave as model citizens will be rewarded.

"Those of you who do not resist, will meet your end peacefully, mostly through Mobium extraction. The process takes only a few hours and, thanks to my Mobium evaporator, it is painless. You will literally fall into unconsciousness at least an hour before your Mobium reserves are depleted.

"Those of you who do not only comply, but also help and support me in my cause will be further rewarded. I may give you a choice, to be roboticized as an honorary citizen, or to leave the planet. I will supply the evacuation pod myself, and you are free to relocate to other parts of the universe.

"Those of you who resist will be overpowered eventually, and, if I do not want to roboticize you or utilize you for other means, you will be executed on the Mobium extractor…with the evaporator only half engaged. This means that the gelatinous and solid Mobium in your bodies will not be converted to a gas, and thus, it will not be able to escape through your pores on an atomic level. Instead your solid Mobium will be extracted as a whole, tearing your body into pieces in the process. Depending on where your Mobium collects most heavily in your body, you could die within several minutes, or several agonizing hours.

"As you see, you have several options. Even now as I speak, military units, fresh out of the factories of Robotropolis, are headed on to your villages, cities, and kingdoms, to collect your surrender. Please prepare yourselves for my combots' arrival.

"I believe that is all you need to know. The rest, I will see to. This message will play on repeat for the next three days to give all the opportunity to come and hear."

The screen flickered off for a matter of seconds…and then it restarted.

Shattering into their lives, striking into their hearts. A defeated, terrified people.

The planet had ruptured.

And Mobia would never forget.


	45. Warrior

Scuffing footsteps and labored breathing echoed in the caverns of planet Marto. A small figure grunted, adjusting his hold on the body of a Mobian hedgehog draped over his back. He half-crawled, half climbed down the cavern crevice. Again, he slipped to his knees. He paused for a second, bent under the body, panting for air.

He dared to lift his head. A speck of light reflected in his blue eyes.

He let out a long breath of air.

"W-we m-made it," he gasped out, barely whispering the words. "Y-you're…you're g-gonna be okay, Sonic."

He continued to stare ahead, unmoving, his large ears pricked forward.

Then, he swallowed and began to wedge himself out from beneath the body. He lay the blue Mobian hedgehog's head down to the rock floor, stood up, and scrambled back up the tunnel.

There, on the ground, the pinprick of light cast a soft shine over the hedgehog's blue head spikes and closed eyes. He breathed softly, dirt and scabs streaked across his face, his fists clenched.

* * *

 _Sonic lay on Uncle Spark's bunk, letting the mattress push his headspikes flat against his shoulders. He glared up at the ceiling as he walked his feet up the wall next to the bed. "…An' now they make me wear a dumb strap to "keep me still," they say. It's like a babyseat strap or something, and they've got one for my wrists too_ _'_ _cause I kept taking the headphones off to ask questions—they hate it when I ask questions. They don't let any of the kids ask questions and they're bossy and always trying to tell me what to do for no good reason—"_

 _Uncle Sparks paced the room. He wasn't wearing his commander's shoulder piece, but he did wear his mesh under-suit and wine-red cape. The cape whirled around him as he walked._

 _"And the worst part is, the shots—they give me these shots to keep me quiet and hold still, and the shots make me sleepy and give me headaches and I hate 'em so bad," Sonic said. "Can't I fight them when they try to give those to me? If I could use my Speed, I could really give 'em_ _somethin' to think about the next time they try to stick me with any drugs—"_

 _"So, you ran away?" Uncle Sparks said in his commander tone._

 _Sonic smirked. "Yeah. Fooled 'em good too. They didn't see me use my Speed or anything, and when I'm moving so fast, their radars lose me."_

 _Sparks was silent for a moment._

 _Sonic glared. He normally didn't want to make Uncle Sparks mad, but he didn't care as much this time. He was sick of being shoved around just because he was a kid when he should-and could-be fighting Deks and protecting his bothers and mom and the city. He shouldn't have to hide his Speed in the first place. It was nothin' to be ashamed of._

 _Someday, he'd show them._

 _"Well, you weren't coming, and Mama and Pops weren't coming, so thought as well I'd come and find you," he added._

 _"You abandoned your post," Uncle Sparks said._

 _"Yeah, cause it was a dumb post," Sonic blurted._

 _Uncle Sparks stared at him. "Attending Dr. Nikolos' school was the assignment your parents and I gave you. We did not say it would be easy."_

 _"You don't get it, I keep tryin' to tell ya, but you don't get it!" Sonic huffed, wanting to run and hit something. "It's not even a real post," Sonic crossed his arms and lifted his chin. "It's a cheat post, because Mama is scared again. She doesn't think I can fight Deks, so she thinks putting me there will keep me safe. I'm not learning anything. I'm_ bored _. You're supposed to be teaching me how to get my Speed stronger and be a warrior and a guardian—I should be here."_

 _Here. Uncle Spark's bunker. The underground private quarters of the Commander of forces in New Mobius. Small, dingy, but his uncle had wanted that. It was a warrior's place. There was an arsenal at the back of the room, at least fifty types of blasters. There was a restroom and sink and burner and a cupboard of nutrition capsules and whole foods-everything a guy needed to stay alive. There was writing on the walls, and books. Books his Uncle was writing, some of them for him. Books his Uncle had found himself, books about space, about wars, about tech weaponry and aircraft, about heroes and warriors and cruel overlords that needed the living daylights punched outta them._

 _The only place that'd be better woulda been a spaceship. He was gonna live in one of those one day, and no moderator bot was going to stop him._

 _"I'm going to stay with Mama and Comet and Daddy," Sonic said. "And ditch that dumb school, and if Deks are coming like Dr. Nikolos says they are, then I'm going to stick around and fight 'em!" He slammed his fists into the mattress. "With you! And you can train me again an' we'll be ready for them!"_

 _Uncle Sparks had listened in silence. He began pacing again._

 _Sonic crossed his arms hard and waited. He pushed the toes of his red sneakers over each other._

 _Finally, his Uncle stopped. "I'm going to tell you something classified."_

 _Sonic whipped up and wormed around on the bed to face Uncle Sparks. "Yeah?"_

 _Uncle Sparks turned around and crouched down by the side of the bed. His eyes were serious. "I don't want you to be at that school either."_

 _Sonic's eyes widened._

 _"I do not like how they are treating you," he said. "…But I have to be able to trust you to stick this through."_

 _Sonic didn't know what to say. He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, then shut it._

 _"Sonic, there are some things going on right now with Dr. Nikolos that I cannot talk to you about. It is the reason why I haven't come to visit you. In addition to the extra duties he has assigned me, I am undergoing my own investigation."_

 _Sonic narrowed his eyes, ears flicking forward. "Can I help?"_

 _"Not if you abandon your post. I have to know that you can take orders. The "schooling" is a very important part of your training. It's another test to try your patience, endurance, and my trust in you."_

 _Ugh, the patience tests were the worst._

 _"I can't trust someone who just gives up," Uncle Sparks said._

 _"I don't give up on stuff," Sonic said, crossing his arms and stretching his legs. "So…does this mean you have a_ real _mission for me at school?"_

 _"I do," he said. "But first, I do not want to hear any more reports from your mother or the schooling bots telling me that you are being_ cheap _. You know what I mean, right?"_

 _Sonic shrugged._

 _"What do I mean?" he said in his commander tone._

 _"Name calling and stuff," he replied back. "Sir," he added._

 _"If they are treating you unfairly, there are better ways to fight. We've been over that before, correct?"_

 _"Correct, sir," Sonic said, crossing his arms._

 _"Tell me about it, Sonic. There are two warriors. Which one are you?"_

 _Sonic flexed his hands, remembering. "There's the warriors who just fight and stuff," he said. "They may look cool and have all the good moves and they may help people, but they only fight on the outside, not on the inside. They don't actually care or anything. Then, there's the true warriors, and they're the ones who fight on the outside_ and _the inside, and they fight for other people, not just for themselves. They fight to keep people alive and safe_ _'_ _cause they hate evil and death and all those other things that have happened to Marto, and 'cause they hate it, they fight it."_

 _"Yes. There is a warrior's code. A warrior's source." Uncle Sparks said. "The code springs from the source. The first warrior can follow the code and still be fighting for all the wrong reasons. The second warrior follows the code because the source fuels everything the warrior does and no one can stop it."_

 _His eyes looked kind of glazed over. Sonic cocked his head._

 _Sonic followed his Uncle's gaze to the hand-carved sheet of metal plate hammered into the door of his Uncle's room. The metal plate that held the code that his uncle had spoken over him from the day he was born._

Name the Warrior's Source and what is your Code? The Code given to you who are the most brave?

It is Patient.

You endure the murmurings of the heart when it begs for ease and satisfaction. You endure pain inflicted by the enemy with the knowledge it will not last. And you endure disappointment and apathy from the home front. Whether the time of testing is bitter and brief, or dull and long.

 _Sonic bit into the side of his mouth and smirked, looking away for a moment. He raised his gaze again, scanning over the titles of the remaining descriptors._

It is Kind. It is not Envious. It is not Vaunting. It is not Arrogant. It is not Dishonoring. It is not Selfish in Pursuits. It is not Quick in Temper when Provoked. It is not Unforgiving. It is not Impressed with Evil. It Gains Delight in what is True. It Carries Burdens. It Believes on. It Hopes on. It Endures on. It will Never Fail. This has been etched and engraved into the framework and structure of every universe, galaxy and soul in existence.

Name the Warrior's Source.

This is the code given to you who are most brave, though bravery may not be all that it seems.

The Warrior who bows and takes this Source will operate in step with the greatest Force, the greatest Person, beyond the Cell of Time.

 _Sonic would never feel like he completely understood what all those words meant, but it was okay. Something inside him understood, even if he didn't know what it was and why._

 _He realized Uncle Sparks was watching him._

 _"I know what the source is," Sonic said. "But…it's not the kissy kind," he added, feeling his cheeks getting hot. "It's the kind that's brave. People dying and stuff,"_

 _"Well, yes, not the "kissy kind"…though, those words should describe the "kissy kind" too, but we'll go over that more when you're older," Sparks said, mumbling to himself. He cleared his throat. "Any matter…Sonic," his blue eyes sparked, electricity snapping behind them. "I know that you want to be this warrior, but it is going to take all your life to learn how, and there will always be things trying to slow you, or tear you down altogether..."_

 _"I gotta go back to school, don't I?" Sonic said, frowning at the Warrior-Source code._

 _"I hope you do, and when you are ready, I will give you your mission," Sparks said._

 _Sonic took a deep breath. "Nuts. Okay. I can do it, Uncle Sparks, just you watch me—I'm gonna become a real warrior so fast—I do everything fast—you'll be able to trust me with anything you tell me to do! Like, maybe helping you fight Deks and stuff?"_

 _Uncle Sparks pinched his mouth, which meant he was trying to keep from smiling. "Well, we don't have any Deks invading yet…" His eyes burned._

 _"Yeah," Sonic huffed. "Uncle Sparks, I will go to school and things, but it's really hard. I know I'm still trying and there's the patience tests and everything, but I'm not really fighting_ anything _."_

 _Sparks stared at him, a hollowness in his eyes. He lowered his voice. "You will, Sonic. You wouldn't have been gifted with Speed otherwise. You, me…we Gifted are born for times of…of great trouble…"_

* * *

Well. It's been really, really long time, ya'll. But Part 3 is done and it's ready to be uploaded. For those who don't know Uncle Sparks, he's kind of an OC I created back in the really early stages of this story. His design is based after Archie's Zonic and Sonic Mobius Prime.

 **To all those who are actually still following me after all this time: I just want to thank you all so, SO much.** I hope you enjoy these final installments of "Rupture". I'm not going to make a definite uploading schedule, but I will say, I intend to update this pretty consistently from now on.

Also, I'm taking this story to Wattpad pretty soon! But since you all were my first readers and have born through all my drafting and editing you all deserved to get the Part 3 updates first. ;-) The Wattpad version will be the final draft and will probably have some art/elements that Fanfic doesn't, so if anyone would like to see that when it's out, keep your eyes peeled for the link!

Hmm, any other updates...? Oh yes. I have edited some of the scenes from Part 1 and 2. I'm going to update them on here soon, but the only big change you need to know about is that now instead of Sonic and Tails just going to the trial, they actually used the trial as a way to try to warn the People's Council that Robotnik had the missiles and was planning to use them to destroy Aero. Of course, it didn't really do any good. But yeah. XD That happened.

As always, I love hearing from ya'll! If you have any questions or just want to Sonic chat, message me! I am not the speediest reply-er, but I'll always get back eventually. Also, if you want to see more Rebels of the Mobian Restoration art and stuff, I have an Instagram account for this story those_mobian_rebel_kids. ;-) There could be spoilers there though.

Thanks again! Whatever your fights may be, keep fighting.

To Infinity and Beyond,

Connie


	46. The Victor

Dr. Ivo Nikolos sat with his robotic eyes fixed on the bronze-tinted glass of the Egg-shaped chamber. Watching Robotropolis from above. He did not move.

Smoke curtained the horizon where Capitol Aero lay.

The man was a strange mixture of precision and spontaneity. He had not set a date on which he had planned to destroy Aero. He had only known that it had to be done. With the taking of Angel Island, he'd managed to gain most of what he needed. After the terrible failure of losing the relic, he could have continued with the truce game for years while he tried to uncover it. But he had sensed the unrest, and sure enough, he had chosen the right time. Had the puppet-Queen tried to resist him even a day earlier, perhaps some semblance of a war might have broken out and precious time would have been wasted. But, no, he had known the time was right.

Robotinik's own voice murmured from the recording he was playing in the room, the same recording he had sent out to all the planet.

Robotnik lenses flickered. He curled his hand around the armrest of his chair.

He had tried to deprogram his emotions, but until his brain was fully roboticized, they would still linger and distract him. Crying was the worst of all of them. He had already removed his tear ducts, but the sensation was still there.

Yesterday had been a wonderful day. He had been patient. He had worked for this every spare moment of his life, and now he had it. He had his own complete planet to maneuver as he pleased. He was going to create a utopia. An immortal empire.

The sensation of emotion continued to overwhelm him. He could not remember the last time he had wanted to cry at all, let alone out of pleasure.

Robotnik turned around to face the room behind him. It was a vast room, surrounded by glass and plated with six energy force fields. The only living person who could enter through them without being instantly killed by the energy rays was himself. He could open it to allow others in, but he had to be present to do so.

He had done so just that morning after arriving back from his endeavors at Aero. Rows of Mobians crouched on their knees on the tiled floor—what remained of the former People's Council of Mobia. They had been stripped of their weapons and clothing, scanned and all given doses of truth serum. A ring of combots surrounded them with their cannons at the ready.

Ivo Nikolos studied them. They were fine specimens and he was willing to let them live, but he had to be certain they were harmless. He did not want to make the mistake of overlooking one that might try to rebel someday. Not again.

Ivo pinched his finger, the one that the rodent had cut the wires to, and let his lungs decompress.

The only thing that darkened his total victory was the loss of the Ringweilder. Learning how to find and use the rings had been a huge part of his plan to prosper his new planet. He had to capture Sonic as soon as possible. Or kill him.

The recording ended. Ivo turned off the screen.

The Mobians sat in silence, their heads bowed.

"As you have just seen…the rest of the planet now knows of your wise decision to surrender rather than fight…you shall all be rewarded with your lives…" He approached them. "However, I hope you understand, you are all still downgrades. If something destroys your body, you will die instantly. You are lower citizens. Yet, if you prove loyal, you will still be allowed to retain some rank. It depends on what your new masters decide. I have invited them here and they are coming to claim their land. And you. I will strongly encourage them to treat you well and put you in positions of authority until you can be roboticized. Answer me, is this understood?"

"Understood," the Mobians chorused. Several fidgeted.

"Once you are roboticized, you will no longer be lower citizens. You will join the ranks of upper citizens and enjoy your new existence in my immortal utopia. Understood?"

"Understood," the Mobians replied again.

Ivo hmmed in pleasure. "Very good." He turned back to the window. "I will go ahead and test you to see if you are eligible for…positions of authority. Other rodents will be needed for the exhibit. I will have more than I will need in a few days, and your new masters will be here about that time as well. It will work out perfectly for the display…." Robotnik sighed. "Meanwhile, you all may go and rest and… prepare yourselves."

Ivo Nikolos' voice tone changed to monotone. "Take them out."

The combots straightened to attention as the Mobians climbed back to their feet.

Ivo turned to exit the room. He began to pass through the energy shields, towards a ramp. A ramp that led through the building to a great, hulking crater. A piece of workmanship that he had been crafting for years.

Yesterday had been a wonderful day. But today, there was more work to be done.


	47. The Garden Gate

_"_ _Please tell us about Arktica! Is it really all snowland?"_

 _"_ _You really worked in a Robotropolis factory for days and days? That sounds horrible!"_

 _"_ _Have you ever had a sweetheart?"_

 _The young voices rang out from the lawn behind Aero's Elite Tutelage Home for Girls. Dappled sunlight fell through the trees over the wood and stone convent house, resting on the collection of young Mobian students. They were each dressed in smart uniforms and their hair was done up in complex double buns and pigtails and bows._

 _The object of their attention, a young sea lion, sat on the edge of a garden chair, nibbling on a stack of crackers. He kept clearing his throat and glancing down, his face reddening._

 _"_ _I—well—" Rotor choked. "I didn't really have—I mean—no."_

 _Rotor's fur looked much thicker now and the color had turned a sea gray. Like a stone. Other than a few bruises on his shoulders and face, he looked almost recovered. Crème had even managed to find him a pair of trousers and a jacket._

 _The girls giggled, hanging on his shoulders. One girl, a small coyote with big brown eyes and curly hair hugged his arm. "Oh good!"_

 _"_ _We'll teach you how to court high born ladies then," an older girl, a blonde fox laughed. "That's the only interesting thing they teach us how to do here!" She blushed. "I mean—not that they teach us to court highborn ladies—they teach us to be courted_ as _highborn ladies."_

 _"_ _There are so many rules and graces," laughed a little otter girl._

 _"_ _Oh—I'm sure," Rotor said. He smiled a little, but his face was still red._

 _That morning, Bunnie had said she needed to head to the palace to meet the princess at once. She couldn't leave Crème and Rotor to themselves in the Underground, so both had come through the tunnels, into the school, and ever since then Rotor had been the center of attention. They were supposed to wait there for Amy Rose, but she had not returned…Apparently males were somewhat a novelty at the school._

 _The three girls had introduced themselves at once. The fox called herself Zoey, the otter, Cordelia, and the coyote, Lizzie.._

 _"_ _Are you all crowding Mr. Rotor?" Crème came into the garden, carrying a small silver tray set._

 _"_ _Oh, we're just listening to his amazing stories!" Lizzie gasped._

 _"_ _How romantic to escape from a factory," Cordelia gushed. "Can you all imagine it? I would love to escape from anywhere."_

 _"_ _Like here!" Lizzie blurted._

 _"_ _Shhh!" Zoey laughed. "They're good to us here. We'd never become proper ladies otherwise."_

 _"_ _It's very important to be a proper lady," Crème said under her breath to herself. She was by far the youngest of the group and while Rotor could see she was happy to be with the other girls, she was quieter than she had been in the Underground. "Real proper ladies take care of people, like mama said."_

 _Rotor just caught her words. He smiled to himself._

 _"_ _We should all teach him how to have tea first!" Cordelia said._

 _Zoey began setting out the tray. "I hope Bunnie comes back soon. You know, the cyborg. Poor girl."_

 _"_ _Uugh," Cordelia shivered._

 _"_ _Yuck! Having an awful metal arm and legs!" Lizzie groaned._

 _"_ _She can't wear dresses or anything pretty," Cordelia sighed. "It gets caught in her hinges."_

 _"_ _She has the nicest smile and hair though," Crème tried, but the girls didn't hear._

 _Rotor took the silver teacup offered him, but he only stared at it. He blinked._

 _"_ _Now, Amy Rose is the lucky one," Cordelia gushed._

 _"_ _Being girlfriend to Sonic the Hedgehog," Lizzie flapped her arms and made a squealing sound. "Oh my goodness gracious me!"_

 _Cordelia rushed over to Rotor, gripping the arm of his chair. "Guess what, Rotor? Sonic has this little creepy fox thing with two tails that follows him around and the fox has a crush on Zoey! He just stares at her every time he comes here with Sonic, like he's in a trance!"_

 _Now Zoey was blushing. "He's a little cute, but he's just a baby. His voice still squeaks."_

 _"_ _He's a Mutate!" Lizzie's jaw dropped. "How can a Mutate be cute?"_

 _Behind Rotor's chair, Crème kept her head down, but at Lizzie's words she glanced up, her brown eyes flashing._

 _Rotor cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I don't know much about all that…"_

 _Bunnie had warned them not to say a word about Sonic and Tails while at the school. Rotor glanced at Crème and saw her face._

 _Creme turned away, pouring a cup of tea for herself and glaring hard._

 _"_ _Never mind about him, Sonic is..." Zoey sighed._

 _"_ _He's—he's-" Cordelia blinked._

 _"_ _He's our hero!" Lizzie said, hugging herself. "He's the whole city's hero. He's so brave. He looks out for us and talks to everyone and he's so funny and—he kissed my hand once! Amy Rose said I could help serve food at their Union ceremony—you know, when they get married!"_

 _Rotor tried to avoid their gazes. "Oh—I—wouldn't know…"_

 _"_ _He really is a hero," Cordelia sighed. "He'll never let anything happen to—."_

 _The garden backdoor was ripped off its hinges with a crack._


	48. Shooting Stars

Morning light shown down on Capitol Aero. And the faces of the Mobian bodies lying around the charred ruins of what had once been a school.

A collection of combots moved across the lawn, working through the rubble, from body to body, scanning. A second row of combots came up from behind, picked up the bodies and dragged them away.

The scanners stopped over a young Mobian girl lying near a collapsed school entrance, a rabbit with blonde curls, purple eyelids and three robotic limbs. They paused.

Even without true brains and eyes, the combots could recognize this Mobian was different.

Shadows passed over her still face. Blood caked the side of her mouth and pooled at her shoulder, where her robotic arm was attached with several leather harnesses. Not far from her, lay a male sea lion, also unconscious.

The combots bent over and scooped their "hands" under the bodies. They passed the Mobians from combot to combot towards something that looked like a train cart stacked with trays.

The rabbit's chest heaved and her head rocked as they moved her. The combots pulled out a tray from one of the compartments in the cart and dumped her onto it with a thud…

They moved on, leaving the mound that had once been the school side door entrance untouched. A broken pipeline of freezing water gushed from one of the crumbled walls, blinding their heat sensors.

Beneath the pile of stones, a sakura colored hedgehog stirred. She tried to open her eyes, then fell back.

* * *

 _Amy Rose had not been expecting many things that day. She hadn't been expecting to leave the school, she hadn't been expecting Sonic to not let her free him, and she hadn't been expecting to be shot at by Scratch. She hadn't even realized the ugly thing had a conversion arm blaster._

 _"-Book it, Ames!" Sonic shouted._

 _She swung her hammer like a bat and let out a scream. The blast and the head of her hammer seemed to collide in slow motion, and a great burst of light exploded around her. Except to her, it did not feel like an explosion. In those split seconds when her hammer met the blast, time seemed to slow down and all she felt was the light gently brightening and blinding all her senses white…_

 _Now, there were things about Amy Rose. For one, she came from a great and ancient family of Eastern Mobia, the same one Sonic's mother had come from. Though she showed little to prove it, Amy Rose was a Lady in her own right, and as such, she carried a measure of power within her. Secondly, she was a hedgehog. The ancient Caste requirements forcing all hedgehogs to become Guardians had become obsolete. However, hedgehogs had been given the Guardian place in the Cast for a purpose. For some reason, hedgehogs were among the Mobian species that were often given visions. Glimpses of the future and uncanny insights. Amy Rose had first begun receiving hers when she turned thirteen._

 _And as the explosion overwhelmed her senses, something terrible flooded her inner eye. Within the white light, she saw shooting stars. Thousands of deadly, burning shooting stars. And they were all falling and exploding, coming down towards her—_

 _And then as quickly as they had appeared, the light died, leaving nothing but the crack from the impact of the blast in her ears. She fell back with a cry, rolling onto her feet, away from Scratch. She turned and ducked down the nearest opening to the lower city as fast as she could._

 _She glanced over her shoulder, looking up at the sky. She began to run._

* * *

 _Bunnie had just been in the middle of talking with Sally when Amy Rose's signal came through._

 _"Anyone, someone, help—help me, please!" Amy Rose's voice cracked over the walkie talkie speaker, hysterical, scattered. "This is Rose, Rose coming in. Please answer, I need help—I need to send a message-!"_

 _Bunnie snatched up the walkie talkie, clapping her hand over the speaker to try and muffle it._

 _"Rabbot reportin' in, Rose!" Bunnie hissed. She looked up from where she sat outside the servant's kitchen overlooking the palace runway. "Now, Rose, Ah don't know what's goin' on, but this is not the time to—" she glanced around, hesitating. "We're all tied up over here, suga', now if Mama Robotnik is givin' you trouble again—"_

 _"Bunnie!" Amy Rose gasped._

 _Bunnie thought Amy had never sounded so happy to hear her._

 _"Bunnie, I'm scared—there are combots looking for me—"_

 _At these word's Bunnie froze. Her eyes narrowed._

 _"—I can't go back to the school—I don't know where to go—I'm hiding behind the weaver's shop on Underwing street, but they could find me any time—" Amy's voice lowered a little, but it still shook. "And, Bunnie—I—I saw something—shooting stars—I saw shooting stars—I don't know what it means. B-but Bunnie, if something happens please tell Sonic goodbye for me. Tell him I forgive him for leaving me—but not for putting himself in danger—and tell him it was his bravery that inspired me and I hope he's proud of—"_

 _The connection died._

 _"Amy Rose! Oh, bless mah stars," Bunnie breathed._

 _She knew Amy Rose could be melodramatic sometimes…but even Amy Rose would know not to joke about combots, especially with everything that had just happened._

 _"Sally!" Bunnie pressed the walkie talkie to her mouth. "_ " _Sally! Ah just heard from Amy Rose and somethin' is real wrong, Ah'll be back shortly, but first Ah'm gonna find her! Ah'll be back real soon, Ah promise, Ah will back!"_

* * *

 _Bunnie gasped for breath as she ran, pumping her metal arm and legs. Her robotic feet smacked against cobblestone and dirt. Trees and houses flashed past her. Strangers lurched out of her way and stared after her. Bunnie hardly noticed their looks this time._

 _She would have to redo her hair that night._

 _The cyborg rolled her eyes to herself. Really, this was no time to think about her hair._

 _Bunnie skidded to a stop and rounded a massive tree trunk. She turned into a narrow, paved tunnel and ran down it into the lower city. Lighted stones illuminated the underground streets in shades of green, blue, purple and red. Stone homes and shops and alleyways and side tunnels peeked out from the dark shadows of the street. The place rang with the sounds of business._

 _Bunnie followed the signs down the winding streets, deeper into the lower city. She turned down a pink-lit street with great wings carved over its arches and stopped at a narrow alley next to the weaver's shop._

 _Bunnie eyed the barrier of crates and trash cans between her and the alley, inwardly huffing._

 _Bunnie's legs made a clicking sound and they began to expand. Her shins extended upwards until she stood several feet over the crates. She hoisted herself up, retracted her legs, then dropped over to the other side._

 _"Amy Rose?" Bunnie hissed. She squeezed behind several crates and a trash can, trying to angle her body so that her metal legs fit. She winced as her hinges scraped the side of the can. "Bless mah stars," she muttered._

 _From behind a bin, a miserable pink ball uncurled._

 _"Bunnie?" Amy Rose lifted her head, her green eyes wide, tear stains running down her cheeks and smearing her mascara. She hugged her arms around herself and the drum of her piko hammer._

 _Bunnie scooted behind the bin and dropped down in front of the ball. Sadness filled her eyes. "There, there, darlin'" Bunnie leaned forward and hugged the hedgehog._

 _"Oh, Bunnie!" Amy Rose squeaked and threw her arms around the cyborg. She squeezed._

 _Bunnie choked. "Rosie, there's no use in squeezin' the stuffin' outta this old body."_

 _"I'm sorry!" Amy Rose let go quickly. She blinked, looking Bunnie over as if to make sure she was still intact, then hugged her hammer again. "You shouldn't have come here for me."_

 _"Now, don't you be silly, Amy Rose," Bunnie said. "We're a team and combots are nothin' t'be jokin' about. Ah can't stay long—Sally needs me-but Ah'm gonna get you safe first."_

 _Fresh tears rolled down the hedgehog's cheeks. "Even…even though I'm annoying and dumb, when you could have been helping princess Sally?"_

 _"Now, Amy, don't you talk like that, suga'." Bunnie's eyes snapped._

 _Amy Rose burst into tears, burying her face in her wet skirt. "Not even Sonic does that for me, and he—he's the best hero that ever lived." She hiccupped, wiping at her face._

 _"Aaww," Bunnie sighed in understanding. "Is that boy part of the reason you're cryin'?"_

 _Amy Rose paused. Then nodded her head. "Mmm-hmm."_

 _Bunnie rubbed Amy's shoulder. "He's a bad boy, dearie. What'd he say?"_

 _"They—they're going to kill him, and he won't save himself."_

 _"Oh," Bunnie made a face. "Well…he's a good bad boy. Don't worry about him, Amy, Sonic is a tough nut to crack, an' he'd be real sad if he knew you were back here, cryin' about anything. He'll be all right."_

 _Amy sucked in a great breath of air and blinked hard, as if desperately trying to get ahold of her tears. "You're right."_

 _"Also, he'd want you to be safe, so let get you back to the Underground—" Bunnie smiled. "—that way you can be there when he gets out of all this mess."_

 _"But if I go out someone might see me!" Amy Rose gasped._

 _Bunnie hefted up a crate with her metal hand and ripped the whole cover off with a single yank. She carefully lifted out the weaving supplies and set them in the bin. "We'll just borrow this. Hop inside."_

 _Amy Rose's eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh! Okay!" She crawled into the crate._

 _Bunnie pushed the lid back on top, and, with a single hiss of her hinges, lifted the entire box onto her metal shoulder. She winced a little as the harnesses strained, but she barely felt the weight._

 _The cyborg began to make her way back out of the alley, into the streets of Aero, and towards the school._

* * *

Note:

Thanks for reading, and sorry for making you all wait on what's going on with Sonic! ;-) See you next week with more updates, Lord Willing!

To Infinity and Beyond,

Constance/April

P.S. Oh, yeah and the Wattpad version with new art is up! *fistpumps* Link in my bio. ;-)


	49. Star Fall

On the tray next to the cyborg rabbit, they dropped the young male sea lion. He groaned and tried to turn onto his side, but the combots pushed him onto his back. His eyelids opened to slits.

"Combots," he whispered. His vision wandered aimlessly over the world before him. "S-stay away…get back, little…s-stay away…get back…"

His head fell back, his eyes closed once again.

* * *

 _The garden gate ripped off of its hinges with a crack._

 _Rotor let out a sharp bark and stood up as the gate exploded open. Zoey gasped and scrambled in front of Lizzie and Cordelia, hiding them with her tail. The younger girls screamed and Crème grabbed Rotor's arm._

 _Rotor watched as the combots began to march through the gates._

 _Combots. Three-legged monsters with gleaming metal thoraxes and thick limbs and blaster cannons. He'd never wanted to see them again._

 _"_ _What do you want?" Zoey asked, her eyes flashing, "You can't just break in here-!"_

 _The nearest combot pointed his blaster cannon at her. She let out a gasp and the little girls started screaming._

 _"_ _Everyone, to the front lawn, line up. Everyone, to the front, line up," the combots echoed._

 _"_ _Yessir, yessir-" Zoey grabbed the girls' hands, spun around and began to run towards the front lawn of the school. The combot's metal hand gripped Rotor's shoulder and pushed him. The sea lion started to walk, keeping his head down._

 _A small hand pushed into his. Rotor looked down into Crème's scared brown eyes._

 _"_ _Mr. Rotor-?" Crème whispered._

 _Rotor stared down at her._

 _Up ahead the rest of the girls were marched out of the gate and out of sight._

 _Rotor squeezed Crème's hand as he walked. He slowed, letting as many combots march ahead to the main lawn as possible. He waited until only two combots were next to them._

 _They walked right past the side entrance to the school—the side entrance that led into the cellar and the hidden door to the Underground._

 _-Rotor lunged to the side, throwing all his weight into the first combot. He grunted, snatched up Crème and dashed to the side door._

 _"_ _Get to your home, a-and-and stay there until Sonic comes to find you!" Rotor ordered._

 _"_ _Mr. Rotor, but-!" Crème started._

 _She didn't have a chance to finish. Rotor yanked open the side door, thrust her inside and slammed it shut in her face. Just as blaster shots rang out and exploded into the wall._

 _Rotor sagged to his knees with a cry, leaning against the door and holding it shut. Blood began to ooze from burns across the back of his legs. He swiveled about on his hip, grabbing the first thing that came to hand—a garden stone. He hurled it at the second combot who had fired on him and the force from the blow sent the monster flying back._

 _But the first combot had picked itself up. He levelled the blaster at Rotor._

 _"'_ _Sonic.' You are affiliated with the hedgehog."_

 _Rotor jumped up and charged, running point blank at the combot—_

 _The combot stepped forward to shoot—_

 _—_ _but not before a spinning, massive, pink piko hammer hurtled through the air and took off the combot's head._

 _The garden gate ripped off of its hinges with a crack._

 _Rotor let out a sharp bark and stood up as the gate exploded open. Zoey gasped and scrambled in front of Lizzie and Cordelia, hiding them with her tail. The younger girls screamed and Crème grabbed Rotor's arm._

 _Rotor watched as the combots began to march through the gates._

 _Combots. Three-legged monsters with gleaming metal thoraxes and thick limbs and blaster cannons. He'd never wanted to see them again._

 _"_ _What do you want?" Zoey asked, her eyes flashing, "You can't just break in here-!"_

 _The nearest combot pointed his blaster cannon at her. She let out a gasp and the little girls started screaming._

 _"_ _Everyone, to the front lawn, line up. Everyone, to the front, line up," the combots echoed._

 _"_ _Yessir, yessir-" Zoey grabbed the girls' hands, spun around and began to run towards the front lawn of the school. The combot's metal hand gripped Rotor's shoulder and pushed him. The sea lion started to walk, keeping his head down._

 _A small hand pushed into his. Rotor looked down into Crème's scared brown eyes._

 _"_ _Mr. Rotor-?" Crème whispered._

 _Rotor stared down at her._

 _Up ahead the rest of the girls were marched out of the gate and out of sight._

 _Rotor squeezed Crème's hand as he walked. He slowed, letting as many combots march ahead to the main lawn as possible. He waited until only two combots were next to them._

 _They walked right past the side entrance to the school—the side entrance that led into the cellar and the hidden door to the Underground._

 _-Rotor lunged to the side, throwing all his weight into the first combot. He grunted, snatched up Crème and dashed to the side door._

 _"_ _Get to your home, a-and-and stay there until Sonic comes to find you!" Rotor ordered._

 _"_ _Mr. Rotor, but-!" Crème started._

 _She didn't have a chance to finish. Rotor yanked open the side door, thrust her inside and slammed it shut in her face. Just as blaster shots rang out and exploded into the wall._

 _Rotor sagged to his knees with a cry, leaning against the door and holding it shut. Blood began to ooze from burns across the back of his legs. He swiveled about on his hip, grabbing the first thing that came to hand—a garden stone. He hurled it at the second combot who had fired on him and the force from the blow sent the monster flying back._

 _But the first combot had picked itself up. He levelled the blaster at Rotor._

 _"'_ _Sonic.' You are affiliated with the hedgehog."_

 _Rotor jumped up and charged, running point blank at the combot—_

 _The combot stepped forward to shoot—_

 _—_ _but not before a spinning, massive, pink piko hammer hurtled through the air and took off the combot's head._

* * *

 _"_ _HyeeeeYAAAH!"_

 _Amy Rose catapulted over the garden wall, leaping for all she was worth. She threw the hammer._

 _"_ _Leave Knuckleswhat'shisface alone!"_

 _Her hammer struck the "head" off its shoulders. Amy Rose hit the grass in a spiky pink ball and unrolled into a crouch._

 _Before the hammer could collide into the opposite wall, Amy's wrist bangles flashed and the hammer blinked out of sight, and back in her hand. She charged across the lawn and swung it into the combot with a roar. It shot back from the blow, still stunned from the first attack, and tumbled into a tree, its chest smashed in._

 _She spun to the second combot, the one Rotor had pushed. The sea lion was trying to wrestle it to the ground and keep its blaster arm away from his face._

 _With a yelp, Amy swung the hammer down onto the combot's head. The whole metal structure crushed in on itself like a pop can and cracked with a whine._

 _Rotor looked up at her, his eyes wide with shock._

 _Amy Rose gasped for breath. She stood feet apart, shaking and clasping her hammer. Tearstains still showed on her face, but she grinned._

 _"_ _Oh how wonderful to smash things when one has been rejected by her true love," she hissed with a sigh._

 _Bunnie came charging towards them from around the corner, dragging the remains of a combot with her metal hand. She'd torn the blaster arm off and the minute she caught sight of Rotor, she handed it to him._

 _"_ _Ah thought Ah'd let ya take the introductions, Amy Rose," Bunnie said. "You know how combots are, social types. If ya attack one, they send signals t'every other fellah in the area. Sometimes they even send signals to Robotnik himself, so we better run-"_

 _"_ _T-To the tunnel?" Rotor blurted._

 _A series of blasts rang out as combots rounded the corner._

 _The door archway exploded overhead. The Mobians yelled and covered their heads-stones and dust flew down over them. Amy Rose's scream rang out._

 _"_ _Perpetrator found." The automated voices began to chorus._

 _Rotor sat up in the dust, pushing off the length of stone that had fallen on him. Next to him, Amy Rose stared up at the sky, blood beginning to drip from her brow._

 _"_ _Oh no," she whispered. "So many explosions…oh no…no..." Her eyes looked distant and dim. She shook her head. "Bunnie—the explosions are coming soon!"_

 _"_ _What are you jabberin' about, sweetheart?" Bunnie screamed, and with a single thrust, she hefted up one of the stones from the ruined doorway and hurled it into the nearest combot._

 _In return, a blast exploded and hit her shoulder. She fell back with a cry._

 _Amy Rose looked up, her green eyes flashing._

 _Over the roof of the school, across the sky, she saw them blaze...thousands of fiery shooting stars, ready to destroy them all._

 _The missiles screamed._

 _"_ _Get down, everyone!"_

 _The school wall exploded. Smoke and gas filled the air._

 _"_ _HyeeeeYAAAH!"_

 _Amy Rose's catapulted over the garden wall, leaping for all she was worth. She threw the hammer._

 _"_ _Leave Knuckleswhat'shisface alone!"_

 _Her hammer struck the "head" off its shoulders. Amy Rose hit the grass in a spiky pink ball and unrolled into a crouch._

 _Before the hammer could collide into the opposite wall, Amy's wrist bangles flashed and the hammer blinked out of sight, and back in her hand. She charged across the lawn and swung it into the combot with a roar. It shot back from the blow, still stunned from the first attack, and tumbled into a tree, its chest smashed in._

 _She spun to the second combot, the one Rotor had pushed. The sea lion was trying to wrestle it to the ground and keep its blaster arm away from his face._

 _With a yelp, Amy swung the hammer down onto the combot's head. The whole metal structure crushed in on itself like a pop can and cracked with a whine._

 _Rotor looked up at her, his eyes wide with shock._

 _Amy Rose gasped for breath. She stood feet apart, shaking and clasping her hammer. Tearstains still showed on her face, but she grinned._

 _"_ _Oh how wonderful to smash things when one has been rejected by her true love," she hissed with a sigh._

 _Bunnie came charging towards them from around the corner, dragging the remains of a combot with her metal hand. She'd torn the blaster arm off and the minute she caught sight of Rotor, she handed it to him._

 _"_ _Ah thought Ah'd let ya take the introductions, Amy Rose," Bunnie said. "You know how combots are, social types. If ya attack one, they send signals t'every other fellah in the area. Sometimes they even send signals to Robotnik himself, so we better run-"_

 _"_ _T-To the tunnel?" Rotor blurted._

 _A series of blasts rang out as combots rounded the corner._

 _The door archway exploded overhead. The Mobians yelled and covered their heads-stones and dust flew down over them. Amy Rose's scream rang out._

 _"_ _Perpetrator found." The automated voices began to chorus._

 _Rotor sat up in the dust, pushing off the length of stone that had fallen on him. Next to him, Amy Rose stared up at the sky, blood beginning to drip from her brow._

 _"_ _Oh no," she whispered. "So many explosions…oh no…no..." Her eyes looked distant and dim. She shook her head. "Bunnie—the explosions are coming soon!"_

 _"_ _What are you jabberin' about, sweetheart?" Bunnie screamed, and with a single thrust, she hefted up one of the stones from the ruined doorway and hurled it into the nearest combot._

 _In return, a blast exploded and hit her shoulder. She fell back with a cry._

 _Amy Rose looked up, her green eyes flashing._

 _Over the roof of the school, across the sky, she saw them blaze...thousands of fiery shooting stars, ready to destroy them all._

 _The missiles screamed._

 _"_ _Get down, everyone!"_

 _The school wall exploded. Smoke and gas filled the air._

* * *

 **Hello, ya'll! So, I did NaNoWriMo last month for the first time ever! It was fantastic, but it kept me from uploading for awhile. Glad to be back. Happy December and Merry Christmas!**

 **Constance**


	50. To Robotropolis

The rabbit lying on the tray stirred. She groaned and her eyelids fluttered open.

Bunnie stared, her gaze focusing and refocusing on the steel roof inches above her face.

She turned her head, wincing and fisting her real hand. Next to her there were…

Bodies. Other people laying down next to her, in a long line.

Bunnie narrowed her eyes.

It was dark. Only a single band of sunlight made its way into the space, falling across her and the Mobians around her. Labored breathing echoed through the enclosure. The air was hot and thin.

The body next to her was one of the girls from Amy's school…

Bunnie turned her head. More bodies. Rotor lay on her right…

Bunnie tried to sit up, but she could not move her arms. Something was strapping her down—

Ice clutched Bunnie's chest. She caught her breath hard, gnashing her teeth together.

"Oh, bless mah stars," she mouthed. "Oh…oh mah goodness…"

Panic flurried in her eyes. She did not move a muscle.

Whatever they were in, it was moving. They were being taken somewhere—

Bunnie swallowed, turning her head as a dull ache began to spread over her shoulder. She had been shot.

Whatever she was in jolted and the movement sent a shock of pain through her shoulder into her body—into her heart. She let out a yelp, tears springing to her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks as she gasped for breath. She began to shudder.

"Oh, no, please," she mouthed. "Oh mah, help…"

The cart rocked forward, one cart out of the thousands stretching in a long line towards Robotropolis…


	51. The Aftermath

" _The United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service presents…a quarter century…of…swing!"_

The band struck up and swing music echoed throughout the Underground.

On a heated ledge, buried in a nest of blankets, Sonic flicked his ears. He frowned to himself in his sleep and turned his head.

 _Gramps musta found the radio signal's sweet spot._

Sometimes the stations made it through the dimensional divide, sometimes they didn't. Lucky them, having radio so early in the morning.

Man, he needed to get up. Grounder would be here to pick up Tails and he needed to grab something to eat before he started making deliveries.

The singers joined in with the band. The connection was fuzzy, so it was hard to make out any of the words, but just the sound was great. They hadn't played much swing in a while—Pops and Mama used to listen to that stuff all the time when he was a kid…

The hedgehog curled up harder and nuzzled his face against the blankets—

His cheek touched stone and he jolted.

Sonic opened his eyes.

The brass section ended the opening song and the broadcaster started to speak, but Sonic didn't hear.

A shudder ran through his body. He remembered everything.

 _They'd been in the cave. The Queen was dead. They were coming for Sally—he was going to be chained to a lab table and cut into pieces._

Sonic shot up, his muscles taut. His gaze darted over every inch of the room as if he expected it to actually be a cage or a box or a lab. A cold sweat broke through his skin.

He breathed hard, his eyes sharpening as he took in his surroundings…

 _He was safe._

 _Why was he safe—where was…?_

Sonic flung off the quilts and swung his feet over the ledge. "Sally!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the cavern. "Tails!"

A small, familiar voice answered back. "Mr. Sonic?" It was Crème.

` Sonic ran a hand through his head spikes, swallowing.

The rabbit rounded the bend and she gasped in pleasure, clutching her skirts. "You're awake! I thought the radio would help—wait don't get up, your body is still healing from the knockout gas and who knows what else—"

"Crème, what'm I doing here?" Sonic blurted. "How'd I get here? Who's here? Are Tails and Sal here? Who's here?"

"Shh, you need to rest, Mr. Sonic," Crème said, trying to tuck the blankets back around the hedgehog and avoiding his gaze.

Sonic jumped off the bed and dropped down to a crouch in front of her, looking at her eye to eye. "Somethin' real bad happened to the city up there, Crème," He took her shoulders. "I've gotta know— _who's safe_?"

Crème met his eyes.

The two stared at each other in understanding. Crème pinched her lips tightly together as if trying to keep from crying.

Sonic took a long, deep breath.

"Mr. Tails brought you here," Creme said. "You and Princess Sally are here….Mr…Mr. Rotor told me to run and get down here when guards came to the school, and…and the others haven't come back yet-"

For a second, panic blared in Sonic's green eyes. He stared at the trembling girl before him.

Tears brimmed in her eyes. She was terrified for them all, Amy Rose, Bunnie, Rotor…

Sonic put his hand on her shoulder.

"Now, Crème," he said. And his voice was smooth. And calm. As if he believed every word he spoke. "You better be glad, 'cause now that I'm awake, you've got the fastest thing alive on the job." He jutted his thumb at his chest. "They couldn't hide from me, no chance. I'll bring 'em back down here sooner than anything, and you better not worry about it, okay? 'Cause we're gonna need you to make them smile and give them tea and stuff." He forced a grin.

Crème's eyes widened. A glimmer of hope shone through her tears. "You think they're okay, Mr. Sonic?"

Sonic leaned closer to her. He winked. "We don't know they ain't."

Crème grinned and sniffed. She wiped at her cheeks.

Pain burned in Sonic's eyes and he smiled.

 _"_ _Sonic!"_

Tails.

Sonic jumped to his feet.

The fox ran full tilt around the cavern bend, white-tipped tails whirring behind him. His blue eyes shown beneath his forelocks. Bandages wound around his slight torso and angular shoulders. "Sonic, you're up _at last_ —" he gasped. "I—I didn't know about the gas—I should have stayed with you-"

In a blur, Sonic shot across the room and snatched up Tails before the fox could gasp out another word. He held him in a death grip with one hand and mock punched him across one ear with the other. " _Tails!_ Man, whatever you did, you must have fooled them good, kid."

Tails looked up at him, half-smiling, half-smirking. Tears shone in his eyes and he didn't say a word.

They both knew. Sonic's clasp was like iron.

"He brought you both back all by himself, Mr. Sonic," Crème glanced at Tails, blushing a little. She looked away.

"You brought me and Sal all the way back here?" Sonic demanded. His tone was as jovial as ever, but he let out a shaky breath.

He forced himself to let Tails go.

Tails stepped back, squaring his shoulders. "Well—I'm strong enough—it took me a little longer, but I _was_ strong enough."

"Yeah," Sonic leaned back on the heel of his sneaker, flicking his wrist. "And you probably were strong enough to rip those combots apart too, huh, pixel brain?"

Tails opened his mouth, then stopped, an inner-war flickering in his eyes. He crossed his arms, unable to help himself.

"For your information," Tails lifted his chin. "I used the gun on one of the cruisers to shoot down most of the combots…"

Sonic cocked his ears. "Huh?"

"The air cruisers have guns installed beneath the cockpits?" Tails tried, suddenly growing bashful. He cocked his ears back. "The ones that crashed? I just—well-it's a lot easier to shoot one of those things manually." He cleared his throat, ducking his head. "…Most of the combots were in the cave, so I just kept shooting into it. It made a good choke point. After the combots were taken care of, I finished opening the cave wall, and I dragged you and Sally inside."

Tails stopped, and though Sonic pretended not to notice, he couldn't miss the look of exhaustion and fear that crept into his eyes.

He'd dragged them both back inch by inch, hadn't he? Just like the fox had managed to pull a wire from beneath the air cruiser cockpit to release his ECcord in their last chance escape attempt. Or like he'd got up and flown that air cruiser all by himself even after being blasted in the back. Or like he'd slit that acid magazine, or hidden from a heat-seeking missile in a thermostat trashcan.

Sonic was proud. Really proud.

He tapped his foot. He wished he had some way to say it without sap or crying or anything.

He smirked. "Not bad, not bad at all. I've taught you well, huh?"

Tails rolled his eyes and tried to scowl, but he couldn't pull it off either.

Sonic squeezed his shoulder, nodding. "Good—good job, Tails."

Tails smiled.

"What about the capitol? Robotnik?" Sonic blurted.

Tails could no longer put a good face on it. His ears flattened. "You've been out for at least twenty-four hours…the knockout gas is a lot more potent than gag mask foam, apparently…"

Sonic narrowed his eyes.

"You…you need to hear this," Tails said.


End file.
